The Alabama State Board of Education authorized a takeover of Sumter County Schools, citing financial and personnel issues in the district.
“My main hope is that the children of Sumter County will benefit from the support that will be provided,” Tonya Chestnut, state district board member for Sumter, said after Thursday’s board meeting.
The Thursday resolution said the State Department of Education had conducted a site visit that “revealed significant deficiencies.” The department directed the county board to provide a written response. Rather than provide a written report, the board voted 4-0 to consent to an intervention.
Under Alabama law, the State Board of Education can empower the state superintendent to take over a local school system to bring it into compliance with state laws.
John Heard, a former Perry County superintendent, will oversee the takeover.
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The intervention in Sumter County, on the Mississippi border in Western Alabama, is the first initiated by state Superintendent Eric Mackey and the most recent one since Montgomery Public Schools. Montgomery was under state supervision from 2017 to 2021 due to concerns over finances, academics, a child nutrition program and transportation.
A message seeking comment was left with the district’s superintendent, Marcy Burroughs. Sumter had just over 1,000 students in the 2021-22 school year and 98% of the students in the district were Black, according to the state report card.
The school board declined to offer contracts to staff by not approving the day’s agenda and stalling all decisions, according to Rebecca Griesbach at the AL.com Ed Lab.
Federal funding concerns
One of the concerns, Mackey said, is Sumter’s handling of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, money provided to schools during the pandemic, which will end in around 13 months. The district needs to spend the “significant” amount it has left, and the takeover staff needs to help the district step away from the funds, he said.
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Sumter did not have an audit this year. The district did not do monthly bank reconciliations, Mackey said, which led to financial reporting falling behind, making it impossible to complete an audit. The department had already put a retired chief financial officer in the school district to assess the situation, the state superintendent said.
Without a clean audit, the district could lose Title I funds, federal money provided to districts with high poverty rates. About 69% of students enrolled in the district were economically disadvantaged, the district’s report card said.
The Alabama State Board of Education votes on a motion during its meeting Feb. 9. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)Not enough teachers
Sumter County hired personnel with pandemic funds, and the district needs a plan to come off the federal funds when they run out, Mackey said. Those employees will not necessarily need to be laid off because the positions could be reduced through natural attrition, the state superintendent told reporters
But the district did not hire enough teachers to begin school, Mackey said, due to a disagreement at a recent Sumter County Board of Education meeting over adopting an agenda. With the resolution approved, Mackey said, he could make those hires.
The department will also develop an academic plan for the district. State officials have two major concerns about academics: third grade reading and the level of college and career readiness, Mackey told reporters.
Tracie West, vice president of the state board, said she was disappointed the school district was not able to begin on time.
“I remember as a local school board member and as a parent, you’re planning and preparing for your children to go to school, and when that is suddenly delayed, it interrupts the family and interrupts employment,” she said.
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Sumter County, like many Black Belt counties, has lost population in recent years. The county, with 12,575 people, lost 9% of its residents between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. census. With the population loss has come a loss in students: in the 2014-15 school year, the district had around 1,700 students, about 700 more than today.
The state department will also look at facilities in the district, Mackey said. The state helped Sumter sell a former high school building a little over 10 years ago.
Chestnut asked what the community and parents might expect. Mackey said that he plans to go to Sumter and participate in town halls.
According to The Hechinger Report, which looked at several papers and working papers, state takeovers have become increasingly popular nationally. Takeovers are more common in Republican-led states, and they do not necessarily increase test scores. State takeovers are also more common for districts that are majority Black students when they have the same test scores as majority-white districts.
Read more at AlabamaReflector.com.