ATLANTA (March 26, 2010) – Sen. Gail Buckner (D-Morrow) championed legislation to a passing vote in the Senate today that cracks down on unethical behavior in local school boards. Senate Bill 426 takes action against school board members who contribute to a school system losing its accreditation.
“When local school systems face unprecedented fiscal challenges and are struggling to provide basic education services to our children, we need to ensure that those who are governing our schools are doing so with the best intentions,” said Buckner. “We cannot leave the future of our children and education system in the hands of those who do not have students’ best interests at heart, and this legislation allows us to more effectively manage school boards.”
According to Buckner, the overwhelming number of school board members approach their position with a professional and dedicated attitude. Only those board members who violate the code of ethics will be impacted.
SB 426 prohibits school board members from receiving their salary or per diem reimbursement should they be named in a report by an accrediting agency as having directly contributed to the school system losing its accreditation. The report must specifically cite that the board member violated policies or standards of the accrediting agency, resulting in the school system failing to attain accreditation.
After the report has been filed from the accrediting agency, the implicated board member has the right to appeal to the State Board of Education. The appeal must be filed within ten days in order to be considered by the state board members.
In 2008, the Clayton County Board of Education lost its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) due to unethical behavior including micromanaging, misuse of funds, conflicts of interest, abuses of power and bid tampering. Over 48,000 students attend Clayton County schools and faced the prospect of being denied entrance into many universities who look to SACS to validate a school system’s ability to educate the student body. As a result, Governor Sonny Purdue removed four board members due in large part to the report SACS released. While the system regained their accreditation, it will remain on probation through 2011.
Sen. Gail Buckner represents the 44th Senate District, which includes portions of Clayton and Henry counties. She can be reached by phone at 404.463.5260 or email at gail.buckner@senate.ga.gov.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
March 26, 2010
For Information Contact:
Kallarin Richards, Senior Communications Specialist
kallarin.richards@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028