Should cities be allowed to create their own school districts?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

The reality is, across the South as well as in other large metro areas, large school systems are failing children. And, disproportionately, the students most negatively impacted by these broken bureaucracies are poor and minority children.

In Ga, at least until 8th grade, minority students generally perform better in smaller, poorer school districts. When you compare like schools in the metro area to their peer schools in rural GA, you will often find higher levels of student achievement in the smaller districts. This, despite the fact, the the Metro districts spend far more per student. Certainly the results that are coming out of many of these smaller districts aren't brag worthy, but it is important to note that most of the lowest performing elementary schools in the state are in the metro area.

To the poster (JPD?) who said that every student can get a good education in DeKalb, the parents in the McNair cluster would argue with you. This past legislative session, many of them showed up and begged the Governor to take over their schools. There are many good teachers in DeKalb. I would argue that there are far fewer good principals and other school based administrators because good ones aren't hired/promoted. (Friends and family, you know.)

Despite the highest school taxes of any county in the state, DeKalb has twenty percent of the lowest performing schools in the state. (About 8 percent of GA public school students are in DeKalb.)

But this legislation, should it pass, isn't just about DeKalb. I have recently heard that the bill will be amended to allow any city to create a school system.

I have concerns about funding inequities, but I am hoping they are addressed in the enabling legislation. This is where the details for the implementation will be found.

However, I am convinced that children have a better shot at a great education when decisions are made locally and officials can be more easily held accountable.

Very good observations, LMM. Thank you.

I get the impression that some of our large urban systems are bogged down in bureaucratic waste and inefficiency. They are way too top heavy and those at the top seem more concerned about feathering their own nests than making sure the kids get a good education.

[10 feet tall]

Originally Posted by red92s

I think a lot of these cities are looking at Decatur and going "see, now THAT is what we should be doing! Look how well that's working for them!". Lost in that is the fact that City of Decatur pays the highest tax rates in the state and a large chunk of that goes into the school system. Something like 60 cents of every tax dollar collected in Decatur goes back into the schools. Maybe other cities would be able to take more of the tax load off residents by having a larger commercial base than Decatur does, but there is no free lunch. Decatur residents pay pretty dearly for those schools (and have for a long, long time). Are residents (NOT just the ones with kids) going to be in favor of having their own schools that they will implement substantial tax hikes on themselves? Decatur is also a comparatively small system. When you've only got one middle school and one high school, everyone is pretty much in the same boat and has to work to improve what they've got instead of just moving across town to get into the more desirable feeder.

Replicating what Decatur has going for it isn't easy. They have had some really great people working on downtown development, the schools, etc that developed master plans decades ago and then lived in the community long enough to work on implementing them. Decatur has been a pretty trendy pick for the last ~5-8 years, but a lot of those wheels were set in motion back in the 90's.

I agree that Decatur residents pay a premium for their schools. But no offense, I think you missed my point. Decatur's type of success could be easily replicated in Brookhaven and Dunwoody with smaller local control. The money is already there. A study was done showing that even with current tax rates, a Dunwoody city system would have more money than needed, running a yearly surplus in the multimillion dollar range. There is more than enough business district in the cities of Dunwoody and Brookhaven to fund schools. Moreover, few would object to increased taxes in exchange for local control of the school system.

My post(s) above are in response to those making a moral argument against forming city schools in north Dekalb for the reason that it creates white enclaves or takes tax money away from poorer school districts. If you accept that argument, the same moral argument applies to Decatur. If Decatur was merged with Dekalb, there would be a massive amount of money put into the Dekalb system and it would keep the privileged children of Decatur from being part of an enclave. But Decatur is given a pass, not only logistically (being grandfathered in) but morally as well (no one accuses them of withholding money from Dekalb schools). If it's good for the goose it's good for the gander. The same argument applies to Decatur.