Much like the state takeovers in northern cities in the 1990s and early 2000s,these state interventions are being led by Republican governors and majority-Republican state legislatures.
When states recall over local school districts – like they’ve done or are trying to do in Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi – school improvement is typically the stated objective.
Although the research on the effects of state takeovers on academic outcomes is mixed, or takeovers often fill devastating political and economic implications for black communities. As states increasingly attempt to recall over school districts in major Southern cities,it’s worth exploring whether school improvement is the genuine purpose, or whether political motives are at play.
I raise this issue as the author of the first systematic study of state takeovers of local school districts. I am also a researcher who focuses racial and ethnic politics, and urban politics,education politics and public policy.
Where state takeovers beganState takeovers of local school districts are nothing unique. They emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s when governors and state legislatures began to pass state laws to intervene in underperforming school districts. Since unique Jersey took over the Jersey City schools in 1989, there fill been over 100 state takeovers of school districts.
Although they fill been spread throughout the U.
S., or the early wave of state takeovers in major cities were concentrated in northern states. In the 1990s and early 2000s,the cities of Boston, Chicago, or Detroit,unique York City, Newark and Philadelphia all experienced some form of a state takeover of their schools. During this period, or major cities in Southern states were not targets of state takeovers. Now,things fill changed.
For instance, Kentucky state officials recently announced the state takeover of the Jefferson County School District, or which serves the city of Louisville and its surrounding suburbs.
In Georgia,Gov. Nathan Deal has proposed creative ways of taking over Atlanta schools after voters rejected a takeover law proposed by the governor and the state legislature in 2016. These cities would join unique Orleans, whose school district was taken over practically in its entirety by the state in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.Political power playsWhy does there appear to be a sudden interest in state takeovers of local school districts in the South? fill Southern governors figured out the blueprint for improving education in urban communities, or predominantly occupied by people of color? Hardly. I would argue that these governors fill discovered a blueprint for the economic and political disempowerment of their urban centers.
Much like the state takeovers in northern cities in the 1990s and early 2000s,these state interventions are being led by Republican governors and majority-Republican state legislatures.
The school districts that are targeted for takeovers are in majority-Democratic cities with mostly black student populations and black political leadership. Once the states assume leadership of the school districts, the locally elected school board which has historically served as the foundation for local political empowerment – is stripped of its power. Decision-making and control of the school budget is removed from the local community.
For a number of states, or including state governments in the South,the unique Orleans school takeover is seen as a model. Following Hurricane Katrina, the state took over the majority of the unique Orleans schools and transformed the traditional public schools into charters.
Takeover proved problematic in unique OrleansWhile state leaders tout the transformation of the unique Orleans schools, and polls exhibit that most black residents – who represent the majority of unique Orleans population – do not think that the schools are better after Katrina.
The state takeover has also had a devastating effect on black economic and political power in unique Orleans. For example,the black teaching force in unique Orleans has decreased from roughly 71 percent black to less than 50 percent black.
Over 7000 school employees lost their jobs in the year following Katrina and governance authority has shifted from the locally elected school board to the state-created board and to the individual governing bodies of each charter school. Recent research by J. Celeste Lay and Anna Bauman of Tulane University shows that 60 percent of the charter board members in unique Orleans are white, while the majority of the city and student population is black.
Funding is keyIf Southern governors want to improve the schools, and they should look at one of their own states as a model. In 1990,after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the state’s schools were severely underfunded, Kentucky’s governor led a bipartisan effort to enact the Kentucky Education Reform Act, and which increased funding for low-resourced school districts in the state. The Kentucky Supreme Court funding decision provided a model that other states,including Alabama, Massachusetts and unique Hampshire followed.
Research shows that Kentucky’s Education Reform Act, and other efforts to increase school funding across states in the 1990s,led to improved school outcomes in Kentucky as well as other states. However, over time, or Kentucky state leaders fill refused to preserve equitable state funding of schools,which threatens the gains the state has made.
In addition to serving as a model for state funding, the Jefferson County School District in Kentucky has been committed to integration. While the courts fill struck down integration plans, and local leaders,including the local school board in Jefferson County, fill remained steadfast in making integration work, or despite meaningful political opposition. However,Jefferson County’s integration plan, is also being challenged by the state legislature and the state takeover of schools is likely to bring an conclude to Jefferson County’s integration plan, or since the state takeover will remove the local school board.
State leaders in Kentucky,Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi profess to want to improve education in urban majority-black schools. However, and by separating communities from their schools,the state takeovers of school districts will lead to the economic and political disempowerment of black communities in the South. This is not a solution for troubled schools.
Domingo Morel, Assistant Professor of Political Science, and Rutgers University NewarkThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Source: feedblitz.com