By Ashley Speagle
Correspondent
ATLANTA — The Georgia House passed legislation Monday that creates stricter statewide policies for local school boards, including one that gives the governor the power to remove local board members.
Legislators say the moves will encourage state economic development.
“When you get a reputation that you’re having schools lose accreditation ... that doesn’t encourage businesses to come here,” said Rep. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, vice chairwoman of House Education Committee.
Senate Bill 84 clarifies the role and mission for local school board members, lays out a conflict-of-interest policy, requires a code of ethics for members and allows the governor to remove board members.
Walker County Board of Education Vice Chairwoman Phyllis Hunter said the state government shouldn’t have the power to remove elected officials.
“It’s scary to think that a government official can just come in and overrule what people have voted on,” she said. “Even as a voter, that really scares me. It tells me that my vote doesn’t count, that my opinion doesn’t matter.”
Gov. Sonny Perdue backed the bill last session after some school systems faced a loss in accreditation.
“Only two school systems lost accreditation in 40 years, and they came from the state of Georgia,” said Rep. Jim Cole, R-Forsyth, the bill’s sponsor and floor leader in the House.
The bill now will go back to the Senate to approve the changes made by the House. Among those changes is a provision in which the governor can remove locally elected school board members only after the state Board of Education recommends it.
But even that doesn’t sit well with some local school board members.
Gov. Perdue is “acting irresponsibly, and those are irresponsible recommendations,” Whitfield County Board of Education Chairman Tim Trew said. “I’m all for accountability. For the governor to be able to remove an elected official, that’s just overstepping his boundaries.”
Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, said he supports the bill, which underwent about 18 hours of debate in committees during 2009 and 2010.
“The steps that are set up in this bill deal with systems that are in trouble, and we’ve provided a mechanism to deal with that that has adequate safeguards,” Rep. Dickson said.
Rep. Cole said when an accrediting agency puts a school system on a list for potential accreditation loss, it triggers the state board to oversee the local school board.
“We’ve had this happen in rural, we’ve had it happen in urban schools,” Rep. Millar said. “We’ve got five to six school systems on the bubble as we speak.”
The Georgia School Boards Association has “worked on (the bill) with the governor’s staff and legislators and (is) pleased with many of the amendments,” said Angela Palm, director of policy with the association, but it cannot support the one that gives the governor the authority to remove local board members.
The association’s recall process for elected members already handles board mismanagement, she said, and before giving more authority to the governor, the association’s process should be revised first.
Rep. Millar said he also does not approve all provisions in the bill, but he said it ultimately helps economic development in Georgia.
“At the end of the day, we also don’t want the reputation of being the only state with these problems,” he said.
Staff writer Ben Benton contributed to this story.
How sad that the only reason these fine elected people wish to enact such a law is for economic development. Then we have a board member that thinks this law should not exist??? Go figure. The people in education in the state are the ones responsible for the POOR PERFORMANCE. They have retoric that extends for miles as to why Georgia schools perform so poorly, when in fact the culprit is the group that enjoys top pay, top benefits and TOP RETIREMENT!!! A brass band cannot compete with these people! As to someones vote not counting, it becomes apparent that the majority of ballots cast are by people who have a financial interest in preserving their status quo. This is what allows the inbred hierarchy to exist instead of employing and electing people from diverse backgrounds and educations. The thought is, "This is the way we have always done it." And you see where that gets you??? I'm just sayin!!!
Why do you think SB 456 will pass and HB 1116 will fail? It is the good ole boy's. HB 1116 prohibits lawmakers from making any money either directly or indirectly from municipalities or school boards in their district. I guess NWGJDA would be looking for a new director. Also, a lot of counties would be looking for new attorneys, and other professionals. This is why it was doomed from the start.
On the good ole boy side, SB 456 authors want to keep the good ole boy system alive and well. It allows Downtown Development Association directors and the such to be County Commisioners or City Councilman. In Senate District 53 why would you submit this? Let's look at the district and see. Chattooga and Walker Counties have sole commisioners. There would be to much political fallout for this. So that leaves Dade and Walker. So the question that needs to be asked is why is this change needed? Is a director or someone who is employed by a DDA or what is coverd by this bill, wanting to run for office or are they already there? You don't just try and author bills that don't affect your district. Let the good ole boy's roll.....
As for the bill It is clear that the local board members quoted in the story did not sit or listen to the hearings. The state (I assume they mean the governor) just can't come in and remove board members. Maybe it would do them some good to listen to some meetings. http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/house/Committees/education/eduArchives.htm Because of a bill passed last year certain board members can't run for re-election because of nepotism. This bill will grandfather sitting school board members in. That bill was here: http://www.legis.ga.gov%2Flegis%2F2009_10%2Ffulltext%2Fhb251.htm I am guessing if I was a board member over one of the schools like Cherokee Ridge with a 7.6% or Eastside Elementary with an 11.1% percentage of classes with a wrong to right percentage of test change ratio I would be worried too. This is by studying erasure marks folks with three standards of deviation given. http://www.gaosa.org/news.aspx?mode=detail&obj=1917
and here: http://www.gaosa.org/news.aspx?mode=detail&obj=1918
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