ATLANTA (AP) - Education officials could deliberate privately about troubled Georgia school boards under a plan being considered in the General Assembly.
Republican Rep. Tom Dickson of Cohutta has proposed letting the state Board of Education deliberate privately when deciding whether to recommend the removal of local school boards when accreditation agencies put their school systems on probation.
Any testimony to the state board and its final vote on a recommendation would still happen in public. The board can recommend that the governor replace entire local school boards.
Georgia Board of Education member Larry Winter said private deliberations encourage more candid discussions.
The legislation also gives local school boards more time to respond to hearings and explicitly allows the governor to keep local school board members who are elected after problems develop.
