Dive Brief:
- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has proposed a constitutional amendment that would give the governor power to take over persistently failing schools, and a range of opponents have joined forces against him.
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Georgia Association of Educators, the Georgia AFL-CIO, Better Georgia and the Concerned Black Clergy of Metro Atlanta are among the organizations that have founded the Committee to Keep Georgia Schools Local.
- While this group has launched a statewide campaign to doom the amendment, Deal has support from Georgia Leads and Georgia Leads for Education, which have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of the measure.
Dive Insight:
Deal is not the only governor angling for the power to take over failing schools. In Illinois, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has had his sights on the Chicago Public Schools since he took office. As in Georgia, Rauner does not have that power and would need legislative support to change existing laws and, so far, he doesn’t have it.
Michigan is considered to have the most aggressive takeover policy in the country, and schools in Detroit have been under some level of state control since 1999, though the most recent takeover by an emergency manager dates to 2009. Critics in that city, like others that have gone through state takeovers, argue positive outcomes have not materialized — for students or the district’s finances.