1. Opportunity School District Georgia PTA’s Position

2. What is Opportunity School District? Amendment to the Constitution of Georgia Senate Resolution 287 (SR287) is the Constitutional Amendment and Senate Bill 133 (SB133) is the supporting law (enabling legislation) Allows for creation of statewide school district through the take-over of existing schools under the control of a Governor-appointed, state-level Superintendent

3. PTA Mission To make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.

4. Amendment # and Preamble The amendment will be Amendment 1 on the November ballot. The preamble will read: Provides greater flexibility and state accountability to fix failing schools through increasing community involvement.

5. Ballot Language The question to the voters: Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?

6. Amendment Language

7. What the Ballot Question Really Means… “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow an appointee of the Governor to take over local school operation, take possession of buildings, and take control of all federal, state and local funding if a school has low scores on standardized tests or for any other reason a future Legislature and/or Governor may allow?”

8. Which schools are eligible for the OSD? Schools that have scored 60 or below on Georgia’s College and Career Readiness Index (CCRPI) for three consecutive years The OSD is authorized to take up to 20 qualifying schools per school year with no more than 100 schools under its supervision at any time. The legislation says “the schools selected for inclusion in the OSD should represent geographic diversity, including urban and rural schools.”

9. Our Concerns Equity for all students – the legislation could allow for gross inequities between students within the OSD and those in other schools within the parent district. Local control of schools – OSD removes control from the locally elected school board. Accountability to taxpayers – diverts local funding, facilities, and equipment for public schools to the OSD superintendent, who is not accountable to the local taxpayers.

10. Our Concerns There is nothing in this amendment and law to address the underlying reasons for these struggling schools. POVERTY MATTERS

11. Important Questions Where is the community involvement in the decision to take over a school, the changes that need to be made, or in the governance of the new school district? What is the exit strategy for schools? What defines success? How does management of the school and control of its assets get returned to the school system?

12. Where We Stand Senate Resolution 287 and Senate Bill 133 do not align with Georgia PTA’s beliefs nor with the “Operation Ready to Learn” Resolution passed by the Georgia PTA delegates in July 2015. Georgia PTA does not support the Constitutional Amendment as currently outlined in SR287 and SB133.

13. What can I do?