Thursday, September 11, 2008
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Gwinnett Daily Post
ATLANTA - A group of business leaders and educators called Wednesday for overhauling Georgia laws to give the state more control over school boards that behave unethically or fail to follow their own policies.
Georgia's Commission for School Board Excellence made the recommendation as part of a plan to help strengthen the state's 185 school boards in the aftermath of the Clayton County accreditation crisis. 'Currently there is very little accountability for school board members,' said John Rice, vice chairman of General Electric Co. and co-chairman of the task force. 'The only course of action for board members that engage in unethical conduct is a recall vote by voters, which is virtually impossible.' The plan, unveiled at a state Board of Education meeting, recommends nonpartisan school board elections and minimum requirements for candidates, such as mandating that they have at least a high school diploma and be a registered voter. Other recommendations include establishing a statewide ethics code for school board members and limiting boards to seven members. The Georgia School Boards Association executive director, Sis Henry, called the recommendations 'far reaching' but declined further comment. 'We will have to wait and see how the plan moves forward from this initial discussion,' she said in a news release. The state school board could vote on the recommendations as early as October.More like this story
- Health board asks lawmakers to revisit CON law ( June 15, 2007 )
- Task force calls for more choices in school funding ( January 8, 2008 )
- Task force readies school funding reforms for lawmakers ( December 8, 2007 )
- School board to meet Saturday on education plan ( December 19, 2008 )
- Lawmakers approve bill giving schools flexibility on some mandates ( March 6, 2008 )
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