DeKalb School Board Voting On Opportunity District Amendment

DECATUR, GA — The DeKalb Board of Education will be issuing a statement on Monday afternoon regarding its position on a controversial amendment to Georgia's constitution.

The amendment, which voters will decide in November, would allow the state to establish a special Opportunity School District (OSD), an amendment that is being supported by Gov. Nathan Deal.

Based on similar initiatives in Louisiana and Tennessee, the amendment would authorize the state to temporarily step in to assist chronically failing public schools. In the governor’s proposal, persistently failing schools are defined as those scoring below 60 on the Georgia Department of Education’s accountability measure, the College and Career Performance Index, for three consecutive years.

The OSD would take in no more than 20 schools per year, meaning it would govern no more than 100 at any given time. Schools would stay in the district for no less than 5 years but no more than 10 years, and would then return to local control.

The General Assembly passed the constitutional amendment resolution and the legislation in 2015. It now requires a majority approval by Georgia voters in the 2016 general election.

DeKalb's school district is Georgia’s third largest school system with 102,000 students.

Stay with Patch as more details become available.

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