Accountibility Be Damned

Somebody get a choir director for the General Assembly. After seizing control from local school systems in 2006 with the 65% "Solution" and a one-size-fits-all class-size reduction law, both of which leave teachers and local school officials zero wiggle room, this year, the legislature is singing off a completely different sheet of music. With SB10, Georgia Republicans want to hand tax dollars (state and federal) to private schools and require zero accountability for the education of our most vulnerable students. And today, when the Georgia Senate passed the Charter Schools bill, Sen. Dan Weber (R) said:

"The belief is the people closest to the school ... they know the needs of that school. If they need an intensive writing class for 10 students, they ought to be allowed to do that."

At least the Charter Schools would have to comply with NCLB. Not so with SB 10.

Here's the thing, I agree with Weber on this, but here's my question. Why is it a good idea to increasingly regulate public schools to the point that teachers have virtually no authority to control their classrooms or to make decisions about curriculum and at the same time propose creating a parallel system where virtually anything goes? If local control is a good thing, then why is it not a good thing for all schools? What's more local than the teacher who is in the classroom with the students? The proposed new laws create a dual system, extra layers of administrative expenses and an uncertain future for Georgia students.

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