State Board of Education Meeting August 25-26, 2021

Rules Committee

The Rules Committee approved the new K-12 math standards but wanted the new standards to be voted on separately by the full Board. While there was general approval for the new standards themselves, a few committee members raised concerns about whether the implementation should be pushed back. Committee members stated that administrators and teachers may not be able to cope with new professional development classes given the rocky start to this school year.

The Rules Committee tabled a rule amendment that would permit high school students to take a Personal Finance course in place of Economics. Committee members believed that it was important for students to be exposed to both Personal Finance and Economics and wanted to explore ways to make that happen.

The Rules Committee gave approval for the following agenda items to be put on the Full Board's consent agenda: 

•       A waiver from the anti-nepotism laws for a Lanier County school board member; and, 
•      An amendment to the Student Support Team Rule to accommodate the new dyslexia screening laws. 

District Flexibility and Charter School Committee

The District Flexibility and Charter School Committee approved all the items on its agenda. Those items were:

•      A waiver renewal for schools participating in the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) pilot program; 
•       Valdosta City Schools contract amendment; 
•       Griffin Region College and Career Academy charter amendment; and, 
•       Newton College and Career Academy charter renewal. 

Superintendent's Report

Chief of Staff Matt Jones reported that the GaDOE and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) had entered into a partnership which will allow high school students to earn TCSG credits for completing certain Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education pathways.

Southern Regional Educational Board, Acting CTO Deputy Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Johnson, and the Superintendent of Dooly County's Schools also provided updates. 

Full Board:

The Board voted to accept an additional $2.7 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds for the local schools. In the interest of transparency, GaDOE will create a dashboard showing how schools are spending all the federal COVID-19 relief funds that they have received or will receive. The Partnership for Excellence will do a deeper dive on how schools are using their grant funds and study best practices.

The Board and agreed to adopt the new math standards with the understanding that the implementation could be delayed.

The full agenda of can be found here.

State Board Meeting June 16-17, 2021

June 16, 2021: Rules Committee Meeting

The Rules Committee met to consider new standards and approve the ones that had been published last month. The Rules Committee approved new standards for cosmetology, film production, and poultry sciences.

SB 47, the expansion of the special needs voucher, was briefly discussed since the agenda included the names of six new private schools which will qualify to accept voucher money. Currently, 273 private schools receive special needs vouchers. So far this fiscal year, the state has paid $25,046,381 to private schools to educate 5,005 special needs students. 

The members of the Special Education State Advisory Panel were also approved to be sent to the full Board.

June 17, 2021: Full Board Meeting

Overall, the meeting was relatively short and the tone was respectful as Board members and State Superintendent Woods took time to remember people who had recently passed. 

The full Board adopted all the items submitted by the Rules, the Charter Schools, and the Budget Committees. A copy of the agenda can be found here. 

State Superintendent Woods updated the Board on the status of the new math standards. He had a meeting in Macon where he accepted feedback from parties who had expressed concerns. The math standards are now being fine tuned and should be ready for publication at the next Board meeting in July. The scheduling of professional learning classes for teachers is also being considered; State Superintendent Woods did not want to overwhelm teachers.  

The State Superintendent will start looking at English language standards towards the end of this year, but it will be October or November at the earliest. 

Unless you have been blissfully living under a rock, you know the State Board of Education held a called meeting yesterday to consider a resolution of the Board in response to a letter from Gov. Brian Kemp. The meeting can be heard here, and I encourage you to read the resolution, listen to the meeting, and form your own opinion.  Gov. Kemp praised the work of the State Board in a press release that included a statement from State Superintendent Richard Woods and State Board of Education Chairman Scott Sweeney.

There have been a number of news reports about the State Board's action preventing the teaching of critical race theory or limiting in some way what can be taught.  When you read the resolution, however, you will see that they list a series of beliefs the Board holds. They did not adopt a rule.  The State Board does not adopt curriculum, they adopt standards that the district's curriculum must include.  The resolution did not address any existing standard.  The term "critical race theory" is not in the resolution.  

Chairman Sweeney referred to the resolution as a "foundational document."  The closing paragraph does say that if beliefs 6-12 (the final copy will be corrected) are not already codified, they will consider codifying all or part of them.  The emphasis on all this has been on race and history, but I would call your attention to beliefs nine and ten. Wording on those is a pretty wide net to catch I'm not sure what.  

The resolution passed 11-2 with Kenneth Mason and Leonte Benton voting no.  Jason Downey was not present for the meeting. Tracey Pendley, Georgia's Teacher of the Year, is an ex-officio member of the State Board so has no vote but was very outspoken about the resolution and underlying topics.  Several Board members spoke, and I again encourage you to listen to the meeting.

If you're wondering what started this, many point to the proposed priorities for competitive federal grants on history and civics education.  That caused a ruckus because it included examples (not requirements) such as the 1619 Project and the antiracism work of Ibram Kendi.  The argument over the content of history and civics education, however, has been going on for a long time. Whether it is posting the founding documents of the country, teaching them in a certain way, exit exams on U.S. History, the 1776 Commission, or other proposals or laws, there is an ongoing struggle over what to teach students about the history of our country. 

It is clear that numerous groups feel they have not been heard, that their history has not been acknowledged much less included, and other groups feel that by expanding what is taught to provide a more complete picture is harmful and defaming to the country. Most of us would never intentionally harm another person, but many feel harmed by the way the story of America has been told. Curriculum matters in ways that most of us never thought of it mattering.  This is not going away.  Educators, policymakers, and the public have a huge task before us, let us start by listening respectfully to each other, hearing each other's stories good and bad, and learning from each other. In the meeting yesterday and in most of the arguments around this, people say they want the truth to be taught so let's do that. We can't change history but we can build bridges to a better future for all of us.

The State Board of Education met on May 12^th and 13^th. New legislation made for a slightly different State Board meeting. 

May 12th

Georgia’s Teacher of the Year, Tracey Pendley, sat in on the committee meetings as the newest member of the State Board. The Teacher of the Year became an ex-officio member of the State Board pursuant to the Governor’s teacher pipeline bill, SB 88.  

The Rules Committee Meeting:

A few items are still in the works and will be brought back at the State Board’s next meeting. Student support rules on dyslexia screenings are being adjusted. State Superintendent Woods is seeking specific feedback on the proposed math standards and will be meeting with curriculum directors and superintendents who had expressed concerns.

The District Flexibility and Chart Schools Committee Meeting:

Foothills Education Charter, Mountain Education Charter, and Coastal Plains Charter introduced themselves to the Committee. These schools came under the purview of the State Board through SB 153. 

Foothills, Mountain Ed., and Coastal Plains are statewide charter schools for students who are unlikely to graduate from a traditional high school. Their students earn a traditional high school diploma and are ready to enter the workforce when they graduate. 

The Committee also approved the appointment of Mike Dudgeon to the State Chart School Commission. Mike Dudgeon is currently serving as the Lt. Governor’s Policy Director.  

May 13th

Today’s Committee of the Whole and full board meetings were relatively short. 

Teacher of the Year Tracey Pendley was given the opportunity to introduced herself to the entire State Board.

The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) presented its plans for performing a study on the effects of the pandemic on student testing. GOSA will conduct this research in place of auditing test results since testing was suspended due to the pandemic. 

In addition to the items on the consent calendar, the full State Board also passed the Georgia Department of Education's FY 2022 budget by a seperate vote. 

There was no State Superintendent’s Report today. 

The State Board met earlier this week for their monthly Board meetings. While interest in the State Board is always high, this month took on extra importance as the Board approved the $1000 teacher bonus and the latest distribution of federal stimulus money.

Budget Committee

Following the General Assembly's approval of the Amended FY2021 budget earlier this month, the State Board had a lengthy agenda partially responding to changes in that budget. Also contributing to the agenda were several items relating to federal stimulus funds that have been sent to the state. While not the item with the biggest amount of funds tied to it (that honor goes to the new federal allocation from the American Rescue Plan), the headliner of the committee was the approval of the $1000 retention bonus for teachers. 

Of the 31 items on the agenda, one was removed, four were held for a separate vote, and the remaining items were added to the consent agenda. 

Rules Committee

A year and a half after the start of the process, the Department of Education introduced the new draft standards for mathematics. The time line had to be shifted dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the effort was ramped up in recent months and the new standards have been unveiled. This item was added to the consent agenda, along with the approval to post the new standards for Artificial Intelligence Career Pathways courses, and a group of new computer science elective courses.

The committee also took up the revisions to the Health standards, and three State Board rules (Testing Programs-Student Assessment, Dual Enrollment, and Student Support Team). Those four items were pulled for separate votes.

Charter Schools Committee

The Charter Schools Committee has been brought back, this time with a new chairman. Dr. Stan DeJarnett is now leading the committee following his appointment to the Board earlier this year.

Three local charter schools had their charters renewed. Those schools are:

• Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School (APS)
• Fulton Academy of Science and Technology (Fulton)
• Skyview High School (Fulton) 

Full Board Meeting 

Following a brief public comment period for the proposed State Board rules, the Board jumped right in to business. A lot of the discussion centered around the use of federal stimulus money and the guidance being given to local districts on the spending of that money. While it was recognized that the Board cannot earmark those funds, some believe that by giving local districts some ideas on how to spend money, it would make it easier for districts.

There was no report from either the Chair or Superintendent. 

The State Board met for their January meeting earlier this week. As per the norm, the first board meeting of the year coincides with the start of the new session of the General Assembly and the Governor's State of the State address. There were a couple new faces on the Board, as Governor Kemp's two new appointees Dr. Stan DeJarnett and Matt Donaldson joined for their first meeting as Board members. 

Budget Committee

The Budget Committee kicked the meeting off and had a heavy focus on CARES and CARES2 (federal COVID-19 related legislation) funding distributions. The most noteworthy being the $1.7 billion of supplemental funds that was included in the most recent COVID relief bill passed in Congress (CARES2). The Board had to formally accept the money, but the exact distribution to local districts is still being discussed. Some members of the Board had questions regarding some of the specifics and Department of Education staff was still ironing out the details of the distributions at the time of the meeting.

The committee also approved supplemental CARES funding to go to districts who had to set aside additional CARES funds for equitable services. The full list of districts and the amounts there were distributed can be found here.

On the whole, there were 11 items on the Budget Committee agenda, all moved to the consent agenda. 

Rules Committee

Following Budget, Rules met and took up eight items on their agenda. The committee heard presentations from several charter schools who had their contracts up for renewal or an amendment, and two districts had hardship waivers approved. All Rules Committee items were placed on the consent agenda.

Concluding the business of the Rules Committee was a presentation for Department of Education Chief of Staff Matt Jones who gave an update on the mathematics standards revision that started before the pandemic. After a pause, the process recently started back up and proposed standards look to be unveiled sometime in the first half of 2021.

Full Board

It was a quick morning and a light agenda for the full Board, as they quickly finished their work ahead of the Governor's State of the State. Only one item, an individual legal case, was held out for a separate vote. 

The team at Pioneer RESA played a video showing all their work to adapt in this COVID-19 climate, and Director Justin Old was on the phone to answer any questions on the great work they are doing in these challenging times.

The next Board meeting will take place over two days, February 17 and 18 in Atlanta. 

The December meeting of the State Board of Education followed a once familiar pattern with committee meetings on Wednesday and the full Board meeting on Thursday.

Budget Committee

It was a rather lengthy agenda for the Budget Committee this month, as they reviewed 30 agenda items. Most of the items were non-controversial, but one required a more extensive examination and was held out for a separate vote. The board item would give the State Superintendent the authority to enter into a contract with a to be named vendor to administer the Voluntary Lead Testing in School and Child Care Program Drinking Water Grant Program. 

Rules Committee

In a stark contrast, the Rules Committee took up only 3 items, and moved them all to the consent agenda. Included in those items were a new state charter school, a new appointment to the State Charter Schools Commission, and the release of the 2021 State Board Meeting calendar. The calendar for the year can be found here.

Other Committees

The State Schools Committee and the Operations Committee met following the Rules Committee meeting, but no action items were considered.

Board Meeting

The full board got together Thursday morning to wrap up this meeting. It was a relatively quick affair following a short executive session. All items added to the agenda, including the Budget Committee item held from the day before, were approved.

There were two presentations, starting with Deputy Superintendent Tiffany Taylor who gave the board an update on the state of charter schools in Georgia. She provided the board with graphs outlining the charter approval process, as well as test scores across all charter schools in the state.

The final presentation of the day came from the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA). GOSA staff updated the Board on the Governor's Honors program and the challenges they faced during 2020, as well as the future of the program.

The video recording of the meeting can be found here. 

The next meeting will take place December 11 at 3:00pm where the Board will consider a statement with regards to former Chief Turnaround Officer Dr. Eric Thomas.

The final meeting of 2020 will be held December 21. It is expected the board will elect officers for 2021, as well as revisit the End of Course final grade weight issue that dominated the previous two board meetings.

Following the passionate discussion at last month's meeting, the State Board met over two days this week to continue to debate the grade weight for the Milestones End of Course (EOC) exams for the 2020/2021 school year. If you recall, at the last meeting State Superintendent Richard Woods issued a recommendation for a proposed State Board Rule that would lower the grade weight of the EOC from its usual 20% to 0.01% just for this school year. After a discussion, the Board moved forward with posting for public comment a similar proposal that would lower the grade weight from 20% down to 10%.

To give more time to the discussion, the Board held their meeting over the span of two days, with the public portion of day one focused on EOC discussion and a meeting of the State Schools Committee, and day two handling official business and presentations from the Department of Education.

Kicking off the discussion, Board Chair Scott Sweeney announced the results of the survey and comment period that took place between the October and November meetings. According to the Department of Education  "A total of 93,079 responded, with 86.31% saying the weight should be .01%, 11.35% saying it should be 10%, and 2.34% saying it should be 20%".

Much of the concern expressed by board members centered around accountability for teachers, students, and districts. There is some concern among members that by placing little weight on the test the students would not take it seriously. Ultimately, all involved seem to be concerned that no one is punished for either placing too much weight on the test or not placing enough weight.

The video of Day One's discussion on the EOC weight can be found here. 

Day Two was kicked off with public hearing on the proposed rule. Representatives from Cobb County Schools, Lanier County Schools, and PAGE all spoke in favor of the Superintendent's original proposal of the 0.01% weight. 

During the Superintendent's Report, Dr. Caitlin Dooley provided an update on student performance over the past five years to take a look at how Georgia's students are doing in comparison to their counterparts around the country. Tiffany Taylor followed with a detailed look at the ins and outs of what it means to be a Strategic Waiver School System or a Charter System. Closing the report was the Superintendent himself presenting "The Roadmap to Reimagining K-12 Education in Georgia", which can be found here.

Outside of a couple legal cases, the only action item on the agenda for this meeting was the EOC rule. When the time came, more discussion followed and several potential outcomes were floated, as it increasingly seemed as if the 10% proposal that was on the table would not be the final outcome. At the end of it all, it was decided that the rule would be amended with two key distinctions. First, the weight would be dropped back down to 0.01%. Secondly, the word "minimum" would be added in order to allow local districts to decide how much weight the tests would carry for their district. There was concern that by making these changes and forcing the rule to be reposted for another 30 days, students would be taking the exam not knowing how much of their grade it would be or place schools and districts in a tough spot by giving the exams with no specific weight. However, it was noted that schools could go back and retroactively re-weigh the exam and modify a student's grade.

When it came up for a vote, the proposed rule was amended and passed with the above changes. Because the rule was changed, it will be posed for 30 more days for public comment, and a called Board meeting will be required in December to pass the final rule. The changes to the rule passed by a vote of 10-3. 

The next board meeting will take place December 10, with the called meeting currently scheduled for December 21.  

It has been a long time since a State Board meeting was so contentious that it was painful to watch, but we had one yesterday.  State Board member Martha Zoller tried several times to change the tone and get the meeting back on track.  We appreciated her efforts. While disagreements between the State Superintendent/Department of Education and a few members of the State Board are often bubbling beneath the surface, this month those disagreements were obvious and heated. While the main fight centered around testing, it is clear that there are issues beyond testing that need to be worked out between the Board and Department. 

Budget Committee

After a much longer than expected executive session, the first item on the Budget Committee agenda started the wrangling. In what seemed to be a relatively benign item, the committee was asked to approve an additional $10 million in funding to administer the Georgia Milestones for the fall semester. According to the Department, the increase in funding is required because the budget anticipated approval of the waiver from the US Department of Education which would have allowed the state to forego the assessments this year. Since we do have to give them, money has to be allocated. 

Right off the bat it became a fight over funding for the new formative assessment, DRC BEACON. The sticking point was the $1.5 million set aside for BEACON vs the amount of funding and resources that are being provided to the innovative assessment pilots currently under development. Several members of the Board pointed out that more was being spent on BEACON than was spent on the pilots, while the Department noted that because the DOE and Board will eventually have to choose between the pilots, they are staying out of it to prevent a conflict of interest.

As is often the case in a budget, there are competing interests here.  The innovative assessment pilots are federally approved but received no federal funding.  These pilots are ultimately to lead to a replacement for Milestones.  In an unusual move, the federal Department approved multiple pilots for Georgia but the state has to choose one eventually to move foreward.  At the same time, the state -- through legislation and otherwise -- has increased the emphasis on formative assessments.  Formative assessments are given periodically and designed to see where students are as opposed to summative assessments, given at the end of the year or course and designed around finding out how students did.  The accountability system is built around summative assessments. BEACON is part of that shift toward including more formative assessments.

Ultimately, this item was pulled for a separate vote, while the other 15 items of the committee's agenda were added to the consent agenda.

Rules Committee

Following the fireworks of the Budget Committee, the Rules Committee provided a brief reprieve but also foreshadowed the discussion to come. Of note, the approval of the much discussed Health Education Standards were pulled from the agenda. Little explanation was given.

The Rules Committee did move forward the Workforce Ready Career Pathway, as well as the Language Assistance Program for English Language Learners, both of which were held out for a separate vote. 

Also pulled for a separate vote was State Superintendent Richard Woods' proposal to have the Milestones End of Course tests count only as .01% of a student's grade for the 2020-2021 school year, as opposed to the current 20%. Board Member Mike Royal objected to the item being placed on the consent agenda, but agreed to hold further discussion until the full Board meeting.

Full Board Meeting - VIDEO LINK

At times Thursday afternoon, it was hard to tell where they were in the agenda because of the constant discussion around testing. It really came to a head during the Superintendent's report given by Dr. Allison Timberlake and Chief of Staff Matt Jones. Dr. Timberlake provided an update of the assessment program for the 2020-2021 school year, and the innovative assessment pilot. When the Chief of Staff began his update on Governor Kemp's assessment task force, tempers in the room began to flair. Several board members questioned why they were just hearing about this task force, while Superintendent Woods pushed back noting that the task force was the Governor's. 

This discussion quickly became a discussion about the Superintendent's end of course grade weight proposal from the Rules Committee. Board Member Helen Rice voiced her concern that they did not have enough notice on the proposal, while the Superintendent noted they had over a week to look over his suggestion.

To save everyone reading time, I won't go into each and every argument made by each side. Ultimately it boiled down to the Superintendent and a handful of Board Members (notably, all appointed for the first time by Governor Kemp) making the point that the Board supported an assessment waiver for the 2020-2021 school year, and when that was denied the work around was the make the tests count for so little that they would be inconsequential. The other side was a group of Board members who argued that the test should still count for this year, and by removing its importance, the students would not take it seriously and that there should still be a level of accountability.

For those unfamiliar with the assessment system, here is a little background on the issue.  The end of course tests were created in the A+ Education Reform Act of 2000.  They were intended to replace the graduation tests over time.  Since assessment results were often used to claim educators were not doing a good job, there was concern that students would not take them seriously.  They weren't used to determine graduation or anything else.  The first year, the score was put on the transcript then became a weighted part of the student's final grade.  It was set at 20%.  Over 15 years later, here we are. The State Superintendent recommended amending the State Board rule so that this year the End of Course tests would count for .01% instead of 20% of the student's grade.  Their grade would solely be based on their class work. Since these are high school courses, there is an impact on the GPA which impacts class rank and scholarships. No other Milestones assessment impacts the student's grade. 

At the end of it all, those in opposition to the Superintendent's proposal offered a solution of their own. Instead of the tests counting .01% or 20%, the test would count for 10% of a student's grade for this school year. 

A vote was held on both proposals, with the .01% proposal failing, and the 10% proposal passing. Almost everyone who voted "yes" on one proposal voted "no" on the other and vice versa. 

The discussion over this issue lasted for hours. There were pointed comments, snapping at one another, crying, and overall a general disagreement with the process. It was not all confined to the meeting, as the Superintendent was quick to release a statement condemning the actions of the board using language that mirrored his response to Secretary Betsy DeVos when the waiver was initially denied. 

It is important to note that the vote on this issue was to POST the potential change in the rule, and that there will be a lot more discussion on this issue before it is all said and done.  State rulemaking requires a 30 day public comment period before the rule is adopted, so the public has a chance to weigh in on this issue.  Check here for the instructions.  The deadline is November 12th.

As for the rest of the meeting, all the items on the agenda were passed by the board, including the testing budget item pulled for a separate vote. 

The next meeting of the State Board will be November 19th. 

For the first time since February, the State Board of Education met in person for thier monthly meetings. While in person meetings are usually held over the course of two days, the Board condensed the meeting into one long session on Thursday.

Budget Committee

The Budget Committee started the in-person portion of the meeting, and quickly got off to an interesting start. The renewal of a contract with MetaMetrics Inc for the licensing of lexile measures, and a contract with the University of Wisconsin for administration of ACCESS for English Language Learners. While on its face, both are innocuous contract renewals that in a normal year might be passed along without a second glance, but in the COVID world, there were some concerns on how both of these would be administered if students are taking Milestones or are in person. The DOE responded to those concerns by assuring the Board that they are taking all of the COVID related challenges into mind as they enter these contracts and are looking for ways to be flexible during the 2020-2021 school year.

This theme would follow the entire Budget Committee portion of the meeting, as both Board Members and DOE Staff were fully aware of the challenges facing our schools and districts this year. One major item was the approval of additional CARES Act funds to offset decreases in revenue and increases of the cost of Special Education expenses related to COVID-19. 

Ultimately 18 items from the Budget Committee agenda were added to the consent agenda. 

Rules Committee 

The big news out of the Rules Committee meeting was the approval of a resolution that named which End of Course Tests (EOCT) would be administered in the 2020-2021 school year. If you recall, during the most recent legislative session SB 367 reduced the number of EOCT that would be administered, with the State Board having final say over which tests would remain for grades 9-12. Ultimately, the board decided that the EOCTs for Algebra I or Coordinate Algebra, American Literature and Composition, Biology, and US History would remain.

The committee also approved the standards for the new courses, History and Literature of the Old Testament and History and Literature of the New Testament. This was originally on the schedule for earlier in the year, but was held after several Board members had concerns about the process.

A lengthy, sometimes heated, discussion broke out over the approval of contract amendments for a number of Strategic Waiver School Systems. The oversight role of the board was a the center of the discussion, with some Board members concerned that the Board is not taking an active enough role. Eventually, the contract amendments were added to the consent agenda.

Among other items, the Health standards  and standards for the Workforce Ready Career Pathway were approved for posting for public comment, while the Board gave the Department of Education approval to initiate the rulemaking process for four items. Ultimately, 14 of the 15 Rules committee items were added to the consent agenda, with the EOCT resolution being held for a separate vote. 

Full Committee

There was no Chair Report at this month's meeting.

For the Superintendent's Report, Dr. Stephanie Johnson gave an update on the status of the School Improvement department, specifically surrounding the challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Board voted on the consent agenda, the EOCT Resolution, and one legal case. All passed unanimously.

The next Board meeting is scheduled to take place on September 30 and October 1, but the format of that meeting remains to be seen.