by K. G. Beavers, Messenger Staff Writer
The Franklin County School Board met in a regular session on Dec. 3 to hear from State Representative David Alexander on upcoming educational legislative issues, advertising on school buses and an update on Sewanee Elementary renovations.
“I need some information from you as a school board in order to make informed and intelligent decisions regarding education issues,” Alexander said, and asked the school board to express its opinions in the form of resolutions before the next legislative session.
Alexander reported that in the upcoming legislative session, bills would be introduced about school vouchers, creating a board to approve charter schools and electing rather than appointing superintendents of schools.
“These are just the first steps in privatizing education,” said Lance Williams, third district member.
School vouchers would enable a parent to send their child to private or parochial schools with public taxpayer dollars paying for the student to attend those schools. Under consideration will be which students would qualify for the “opportunity scholarships,” evaluating student outcomes, and how these non-public schools would be held accountable. Alexander said he would “need a tremendous amount of information on the good side of school vouchers” before voting for such a program.
“I feel those I represent would want to put their dollars into educating the public and would be against school vouchers,” said Chris McDonough, fifth district member.
The state legislature is proposing to create a board that would have authority to approve charter schools.
A charter school is a public school operated by independent, nonprofit governing bodies that must include parents. Currently, local school boards have that authority, ensuring that, according to the authorizing legislation, “those charter schools open and remain open that are meeting the needs of their students, district and community. Local boards do this through rigorous authorization processes, ongoing monitoring of the academic and financial performance of charter schools, and, when necessary, through the revocation or non-renewal of charters.”
Chris Guess, fourth district member, said, “By the time all these state laws are passed, there will not be a need for local school boards. Charter schools still come under local school board accountability, and we should be able to approve those.”
“These are just band-aids stemming from No Child Left Behind,” said Kevin Caroland, chairman of the school board. “Instead of getting rid of NCLB, these are just ways around that accountability.”
Alexander also discussed the proposal that would have county school superintendents (or school directors, as they are known in some counties) be elected rather than appointed by the school board. This idea “has never gotten out of committee” in the legislature, he said.
“I encourage you to contact those committee members and pass a resolution on elected versus appointed superintendents,” said Alexander.
Currently, the elected school board members hire the school superintendent. By doing this, “it takes away from politics and favoritism,” said Betty Jo Drummond, seventh district member.
“I always thought we needed someone local to run the schools,” said Drummond. “I have changed my mind with Dr. [Rebecca] Sharber [director of Franklin County schools]. She is straight across the board with all of us. She knows how the state education system operates.”
“We are a 43 million dollar a year business,” said Williams. “We need the best person to run it, and this is not a job based on who wins a popularity contest.”
The school board requested resolutions be drafted to oppose these three legislative measures, and discussion will continue in the next school board meeting.
In other business, the school board has been researching the idea of placing advertisements on the school buses as a way to raise revenue. Direct Solutions, a marketing firm in Atlanta, sent a proposal that described how two advertisement signs on each of the 63 county school buses would generate approximately $42,000 a year.
School board members raised concerns about safety and the lack of businesses in the area able to afford such advertising. Drummond said this was not the best deal, as Direct Solutions kept one-third of the profits. “I will keep looking for another alternative,” Drummond said.
“We just aren’t to the point that we need corporate sponsorship for our schools,” said Caroland. No motion or vote was taken on this issue.
Concerning the SES renovations, the Franklin County Commission voted 16-0 in a meeting on Dec. 3 to approve moving money from the school board fund balance to a capital outlay budget line. Pre-construction meetings will be held next week between SAIN Construction, director of schools Rebecca Sharber and SES principal Mike Maxon.
The next school board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 14, at the board office, 215 S. College St., Winchester.
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