Lost in the noise of the 2016 fight for the presidency, voters across the U.S. will face state-level referendums, constitutional amendments, propositions and questions that could have serious impacts on citizens.
In the U.S. state of Georgia, education is at issue with Amendment 1, where voters will say “yes” or “no” to a state constitutional amendment that would allow a state takeover of failing public schools.
But the plan for the state’s “Opportunity School District” (OSD) with Amendment 1 poses complex questions for public education after the prototypes it is built upon – school takeover plans in New Orleans and Detroit – had mixed results in improving student outcomess, a scholar versed in children’s rights said.
Tanya Washington, a professor of law at Georgia State University’s College of Law, said clearly, something needs to be done to improve the quality of education in struggling schools, but the OSD setup that puts local decision making (hiring, firing, funding and other matters) functions by elected boards of education into the hands of a state-level political appointee may not be the panacea to the problem.
“If governance was the principle reason for failing schools, then perhaps the OSD would address the needs of these schools,” Washington explained. “However, if the OSD Superintendent will be dealing with the same challenges facing the schools and the students that impair their ability to provide a quality education, and she or he has a magic bullet or plan for turning these schools around why wait until they are failing to fix them?”
“Why not provide the schools with what they need right now so that they can do what is necessary, before more children fall farther behind?” she continued.
Washington teaches Race and Law, Education Law and Civil Procedure at Georgia State Law, and focuses her research and scholarship on issues related to educational equity and issues arising at the intersection of domestic relations, race and children’s constitutional rights.
Her articles have been published in law journals across the nation and she has frequently been quoted in the media on a range of issues. Washington also co-wrote an amicus brief filed in Obergefell v. Hodges, which was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision.
Read Washington’s bio at http://law.gsu.edu/profile/tanya-monique-washington.
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