Ballot amendment language
Amendment 1 reads: Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?A “yes” vote supports authorizing the state to take over low-performing schools and form a state-run Opportunity School District. A “no” vote opposes authorizing the state to take over low-performing schools or form a state-run Opportunity School District, thereby allowing local school boards and districts to manage these schools.
*By the numbers:
*If Amendment 1 is passed by Georgia voters, previously passed legislation states:A school is eligible for the Opportunity School District if it has been ranked failing by Georgia’s accountability system for the last three years. A school is considered failing if it has received a score of 60 or below on the state’s College and Career Ready Performance Index. The index gives each school a score between zero and 110, based on things like attendance, graduation rates and standardized test scores. The Opportunity School District will take up to 20 schools the first year, and will never manage more than 100 schools at any time. Schools will remain within the Opportunity School District for up to 10 years, and will be removed from the district only after they score above failing for three consecutive years.If a school is taken over by the Opportunity School District it will either be shuttered, run by the appointed superintendent or converted into a charter school.
Tennesseans have debated for years how to turn around chronically failing schools, and now voters in Georgia are taking up the issue on the Nov. 8 ballot.
If Georgians vote to amend the state constitution, the state will gain authority to take over low- performing schools by creating a state-run Opportunity School District separate from local school systems. The approach is modeled in part after Tennessee’s Achievement School District, which is considering taking over several Hamilton County schools.
Tennessee lawmakers created the Achievement School District to boost improvements in schools ranking in the bottom 5 percent statewide. Hamilton County has five such “priority schools” – Brainerd High, Dalewood Middle, Orchard Knob Elementary, Orchard Knob Middle and Woodmore Elementary – and about a dozen schools are on the cusp of joining the list.