Education Law - Jerry A. Lumley

• Publication year: 2000

Education Lawby Jerry A. Lumley*

Primarily because of Governor Barnes' "A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000" ("the Reform Act"),¹ Georgia experienced sweeping changes in the area of education law during the past year. This Article discusses the Reform Act, other education legislation, and decisions of Georgia appellate courts in the area of education during the past year.

I. "A Plus Education Reform Act op 2000"

The Reform Act is intended to provide for comprehensive reform of the delivery of education services in Georgia. Specifically, the legislation is designed to increase student academic performance and to hold local schools accountable for student progress. The following is a review of some of the significant provisions of the legislation.

A. Governance

The Reform Act brought about significant changes in the governance of education systems at the state, regional, and local levels. At the state level, the Education Coordinating Council, which is to be chaired by the Governor,² and the Office of Education Accountability, whose director is to be appointed by the Governor,³ were created. Additionally, the chairman of the State Board of Education was given authority to require employees of the State Department of Education to perform functions for the State Board.⁴ At the regional level, regional education service agencies are required to provide additional services to their member school systems⁵ and, upon the request of a member system, are to provide instructional care teams to schools that are educationally deficient.⁶ Locally, advisory school councils are required to be established at each school in the state.⁷ Each of these changes is discussed in more detail below.

1. The Education Coordinating Council

The Reform Act created the Education Coordinating Council⁸ to aid in interagency communication about educational policy and programs; to help create effective and efficient coordination of public education programs within the education system; to prevent duplicate services within the education system; and to supervise all education accountability programs from prekindergarten through postsecondary education.⁹

Members of the Education Coordinating Council consist of the Governor, the State School Superintendent, the chairperson of the State Board of Education, the chancellor of the University System of Georgia, the chairperson of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, the commissioner of the Department of Technical and Adult Education, the chairperson of the State Board of Technical and Adult Education, the executive secretary of the Professional Standards Commission, the chairperson of the Professional Standards Commission, and the director of the Office of School Readiness.¹⁰ The Governor will be the chairperson of the Education Coordinating Council.¹¹ The Education Coordinating Council is given considerable powers and duties. Specifically, it has the power and duty:

(1) to encourage coordination and cooperation between the chief officers of the departments, boards, and offices on the council;

(2) to establish a more integrated public education system;

(3) to ensure that expenditures for and utilization of facilities, personnel, and other resources is done efficiently;

(4) to coordinate the curriculum among the departments, boards, and offices represented on the council;

(5) to ensure that transition for students among the educational institutions represented on the council is done with reasonable ease;(6) to mandate high and necessary levels of student achievement at all levels of education;

(7) to supervise accountability systems within or among the departments, boards, and offices on the council and create overlay accountability systems through Office of Education Accountability;

(8) to supervise the Office of Education Accountability;

(9) to coordinate the activities among state, regional, and local cooperative public education agencies, offices, or councils;

(10) to provide for a more qualified work force through training, professional development, and nontraditional routes to employment;

(11) to supervise the creation and implementation of a comprehensive system-wide education student information system that will aid in creating an education accountability system and make the operation of public education more seamless;

(12) to make rules and regulations for all departments, boards, and offices represented on the council simpler;

(13) to create a state-wide mentoring program that will enhance the achievement of students at all levels of public education;

(14) to establish and coordinate a school safety collaborative with the help of agencies and organizations designated by the council to improve the climate and safety of the school; and

(15) to mediate disputes between the Department of Education, the University System of Georgia, the Department of Technical and Adult Education, the Professional Standards Commission, the Office of School Readiness, and the Office of Education Accountability regarding accountability or education system seamlessness matters.¹²

The Education Coordinating Council may exercise its powers and duties directly or through the Office of Education Accountability.¹³ The council also directs and supervises the Office of Education Accountability with respect to the exercise of these powers and duties.¹⁴ The Reform Act gives the Education Coordinating Council power by requiring those entities represented on the council to take action on the council's decisions.¹⁵ Any decision or action by the council requiring action by any department, board, or office represented on the council must be placed on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the affected department, board, or office's governing body for immediate action.¹⁶ The action taken must be reported to the council at the council's next regularly scheduled meeting.¹⁷

2. The Office of Education Accountability

The Reform Act also created the Office of Education Accountability.¹⁸ The director is the chief administrative and executive officer of the office.¹⁹ The director is appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The director's salary will be determined by the Governor.²⁰ The Office of Education Accountability is also given significant powers and duties. As its name suggests, its primary duty is to develop accountability systems.²¹ The components of this system must include expectations of student achievement, measurement of student achievement, databases of the measurements, analysis of such data indicating trends in student achievement, interventions, awards, the appropriate spending of allotted education funds, and public awareness of all of these components.²² The Office of Education Accountability also has the power and duty:

(1) to establish and recommend to the departments, boards, and offices represented council modifications to improve accountability systems presently existing or that may be created within or among the departments, boards, and offices represented on the council;

(2) to audit and inspect for purposes of verification, research, analysis, reporting, or for other purposes regarding performance of its powers and duties and for purposes of auditing pre-kindergarten through postsecondary education, and education work force programs and schools, local school systems, institutes, colleges, universities, regional education service agencies, and other public education programs and entities as defined by the council;

(3) to assist the council in establishing a state-wide education student information system;

(4) to serve as a staff for the council; and

(5) to exercise the powers and discharge duties of the council under its supervision and oversight.²³

The Reform Act requires all member agencies of the Education Coordinating Council and other departments, boards, and offices of the state to cooperate with the Office of Education Accountability.²⁴ The agencies must also provide the Office of Education Accountability with all information that the council deems necessary for the office to discharge its duties regarding the education programs and units governed by the agencies or other departments, boards, or offices.²⁵

3. Chair of the State Board of Education

The Reform Act provides that the chairperson of the State Board of Education is to be elected by the state board, and his term is to be fixed by the state board.²⁶ Additionally, the Reform Act significantly enhances the authority of the chairperson. After a reasonable attempt to consult with the State School Superintendent, the chairperson may require any employee of the Georgia Department of Education to give information to or to perform functions for the state board.²⁷

4. Regional Education Service Agencies

The Quality Basic Education Act ("QBE") required the State Board of Education to create a statewide network of regional education service agencies in order to provide shared services to improve the effectiveness of educational programs and services to local school systems and to provide instructional programs directly to a select group of public school students throughout the state.²⁸ These agencies are commonly referred to as RESAs.

Under the Reform Act, the State Board of Education is required to establish and define geographically the service area of each RESA.²⁹ All local school systems, Department of Technical and Adult Education facilities and institutions, and University System of Georgia facilities and institutions within a service area must be members of that RESA.³⁰ The Reform Act requires each RESA to provide the following shared services to member local school systems:

(1) [i]dentifying or conducting research related to educational improvements and in planning for the implementation of such improvements;

(2) [djeveloping and implementing staff development programs with an emphasis on improving student achievement and school accountability;

(3) [developing and implementing...