What if the Georgia State Constitution WAS amended allowing the establishment of new school systems; what would happen?

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by kgpremed13

The same thing happening now, rich whites would insulate themselves in certain neighborhoods and try to use zoning laws and property values to keep the poor peasants and minorities out. Everything the guy says in this video



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPnxOOeY1Kg






We can't keep pretending that America provides equal opportunity for the poor and minorities

I have watched this video several times. I really cannot agree with the narrative. Folks who work their tails off to make a good living are not, generally, trying to keep anyone out of their socio-economic bracket or out of their neighborhoods. Just because they live in neighborhoods that someone else cannot afford does not mean that they are intentionally keeping others down, so to speak. Many of those folks give graciously to social causes that help those who are less economically successful. Capitalism works this way. The solution to the whole issue is to adopt socialism. Now, who wants to do that?

[MasterRattler]

Florida has a law that states only one public school system per county. I think the same should be applied to Ga...heck we already have more counties than any state except Texas, so I think 159 school systems is enough .

[Clayton white guy]

Problem is, some city school systems cross county lines: Atlanta (Fulton AND Dekalb); Buford (Gwinnett AND Hall), etc. I also must point out the fact that my original premise was the fact that many of our states smaller city-based school systems seemed to have better outcomes, especially for the economically disadvantaged.

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by Clayton white guy

Problem is, some city school systems cross county lines: Atlanta (Fulton AND Dekalb); Buford (Gwinnett AND Hall), etc. I also must point out the fact that my original premise was the fact that many of our states smaller city-based school systems seemed to have better outcomes, especially for the economically disadvantaged.

It really doesn’t matter how many school systems we have, what matters is how the money is spent and how. We need to ensure that the poorest school zones have the same quality of education as the wealthiest ones. Whether it happens with a bunch of small school districts or a crazy large statewide district, I don’t really care. I stand by my proposal of an algorithm drawing our districts and updating according to property value every 10 years to ensure that each area has an equal amount of tax dollars to work with.

[Clayton white guy]

Thing is, that many of the districts that have the most economically disadvantaged students (Atlanta City, Dekalb County, Clayton County, etc.) actually have enviable tax bases. Really you have "rich" school systems (how many taxes can you collect on expensive Intown properties or airports) that serve primarily poor students. Admittedly, this is NOT the case in some poor rural counties across the state.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by Mattie

I understand the appeal of locally run school districts, I grew up with them, and so did my kids for several years. But GA has 181 districts for about 1.6 million kids. NJ, where we are originally from, has 691 school districts for 1.4 million students. NJ taxes are insane, and local school boards are a large part of the reason why. Be very careful about what you wish for, GA.

Long Island is just as bad. 127 districts for 475,000 students concentrated in a space about 100 miles by 20 miles.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

I have watched this video several times. I really cannot agree with the narrative. Folks who work their tails off to make a good living are not, generally, trying to keep anyone out of their socio-economic bracket or out of their neighborhoods. Just because they live in neighborhoods that someone else cannot afford does not mean that they are intentionally keeping others down, so to speak. Many of those folks give graciously to social causes that help those who are less economically successful. Capitalism works this way. The solution to the whole issue is to adopt socialism. Now, who wants to do that?

Agreed. Especially in this country where there are few true barriers to success.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Clayton white guy

I did know of Troup County's many school systems, but always thought it was Caroll County that wore the "most school systems for a county in Georgia" crown. Perhaps they inherited it after Troup County consolidated their small city school systems.

Carroll County has retained smaller community level high schools, but I believe there has only been the county system and the city of Carrollton as far as separate districts. Bremen has a separate district and its city limits spill into Carroll but most of Bremen is in neighboring Haralson County.

Outside of the city run Carrollton High School, the county has Central HS, Bowdon HS, Mt. Zion HS, Temple HS and Villa Rica HS. I think I named them all.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by tj1994

We would end up looking like Texans with hundreds of ISDs

The ISD system works pretty well I would say. Texas does redistribute the wealth. Wealthy suburban districts do fund the overall state school budget at a higher rate. What are locally known as "Robin Hood" laws.

There is some dissatisfaction here with the central core city ISDs. Dallas is similar to Atlanta with some high performing HS clusters, some excellent magnet schools but many, many underperforming schools. Yet I get the feel (and just my obersvation) that the suburban ISD systems that have gone majority minority don't have quite the local stigma that similar areas of Atlanta seem to have. Not saying it doesn't exist, just not to the extent it does in Atlanta.