Stephens BOE Chair Speaks on Amendment One

Stephens County Board of Education Chairman Tony Crunkleton speaks out on the proposed Amendment One on the November ballot.

Crunkleton stated his opinion on the proposed Opportunity School District amendment at last Tuesday’s Stephens County Board of Education meeting.

“I just want to encourage people to vote ‘no’ against that amendment,” said Crunkleton. “I personally do not feel it is beneficial to the local school system at all, especially in this area, not just Stephens County, but northeast Georgia. I just wanted to encourage people before the election to vote ‘no’ on Amendment One.”

In February 2015, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal proposed creation of an Opportunity School District and voters will decide on the November ballot whether it will take effect.

The OSD as it is called would authorize the state to temporarily step in to assist chronically failing public schools.

In the governor’s proposal, persistently failing schools are defined as those scoring below 60 on the Georgia Department of Education’s accountability measure, the College and Career Performance Index, for three consecutive years.
The proposal stated the OSD would take in no more than 20 schools per year, meaning it would govern no more than 100 at any given time and schools would stay in the district for no less than 5 years but no more than 10 years, and would then return to local control.
The Governor would appoint the OSD superintendent, to be confirmed by the Senate, and he or she would report directly to the Governor and the OSD would determine which eligible schools will come into the OSD and determines the appropriate strategies for these schools, along with hiring and approving the selection of the school principal and/or the governing board members for OSD charter schools.
Governor Deal pointed to states like Tennessee and Louisiana that have had success implementing similar programs.
He said many failing schools already spend more than the state average per student and the OSD will allow the state to bring new focus by education experts, better governance and best practices to schools that have underachieved for too long.
However, Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said he has concerns about the proposed Opportunity School District amendment and the thought of one state individual having control over what have traditionally been local decisions in numerous school districts.

“We are in a unique state and to think there is a man or a woman that can become this superintendent and not necessarily live in these communities and yet get to the deep-rooted problems they have and fix that with just the simple ability to hire and fire and add resources they do not have to be accountable for to that local taxpayer is a little confusing to me,” said Dorsey.
As of May 2016, no schools in northeast Georgia would fall under the Opportunity School District criteria.

Both State Representative Dan Gasaway and State Senator John Wilkinson voted for the Opportunity School District legislation.