2016 Georgia Code
Title 20 - Education
Chapter 14 - Education Accountability
Article 3 - Opportunity School District
§ 20-14-103. (For effective date, see note.) Selection of qualifying schools; criteria; role of superintendent; special treatment of charter schools

(a) The Opportunity School District shall be authorized to select up to 20 qualifying schools to add to the OSD in any single school year. The Opportunity School District shall have no more than 100 schools under its supervision at any given time. The schools selected for inclusion in the OSD should represent geographic diversity, including urban and rural schools.

(b) Selection of up to 20 qualifying schools to add to the OSD in any single school year shall be based on an analysis of performance over the most recent three-year period with emphasis on student growth and progress and other considerations, including geographic clusters of qualifying schools, feeder patterns with multiple eligible schools, current turn-around efforts, availability of qualified partners, and community engagement and support. The school selection process shall include a public hearing to allow for parent and community input and the final selection of which schools are transferred into the OSD shall be in the sole discretion of the OSD Superintendent.

(c) The OSD Superintendent shall have the sole discretion in determining the timing and sequencing of transferring qualifying schools to the OSD, which may take into consideration the capacity of the OSD in successfully overseeing each school. Prior to transferring any qualifying school to the OSD, the OSD Superintendent shall conduct an evaluation of the school to determine the factors contributing to the school's performance and shall conference with the school principal, local board of education members, and the local school superintendent to share the findings of the evaluation and discuss options for remediation in a joint effort between the OSD and the local school system. The OSD Superintendent shall evaluate and identify the qualifying schools selected for intervention no later than April 1 prior to the initial school year in which the OSD intervention model will be implemented. The specific intervention model in subsection (a) of Code Section 20-14-105 most appropriate for each school based on the findings of the evaluation shall be identified by the OSD Superintendent no later than July 1 of the effective school year and published on the office website.

(d) The OSD Superintendent is authorized to waive specifically identified State Board of Education rules, regulations, policies, and procedures, or provisions of Chapter 2 of this title for opportunity schools. The goal for each waiver shall be improvement of student performance. The OSD Superintendent is not authorized to waive any federal, state, and local rules, regulations, court orders, and statutes relating to civil rights; insurance; the protection of the physical health and safety of school students, employees, and visitors; conflicting interest transactions; the prevention of unlawful conduct; any laws relating to unlawful conduct in or near a public school; any reporting requirements pursuant to Code Section 20-2-320 or this chapter; the requirements of Code Section 20-2-211.1 relating to fingerprint and criminal background checks; state accountability requirements, including but not limited to teacher and leader evaluation pursuant to Code Section 20-2-210; or the requirements in subsection (c) of Code Section 20-2-327. A school that has received a waiver shall remain subject to the provisions of Part 3 of Article 2 of this chapter, the requirement that it shall not charge tuition or fees to its students except as may be authorized for local boards by Code Section 20-2-133. All opportunity schools shall comply with all applicable constitutional and statutory nondiscrimination requirements.

(e) In the event that a qualifying school selected to be an opportunity school pursuant to this article is an existing charter school or is currently subject to any school level requirements included in a charter system contract or a contract executed pursuant to Article 4 of Chapter 2 of this title, the authority of the OSD shall supersede any such charter or contract with respect to the qualifying school and the State Board of Education and affected local board of education shall take all necessary steps to modify or cancel any such charter or contract with respect to the qualifying school to effectuate this.