State of Georgia Approves First IE2 Contract

Yesterday, the State Board of Education (SBOE) approved a five-year contract with Gwinnett County Public Schools that grants the school district greater flexibility in exchange for increased accountability. The contract was made possible by Governor Sonny Perdue’s Investing in Educational Excellence (IE2) legislation, which was passed and signed into law last year. IE2 allows for balanced local control, allowing officials closest to the students to make important decisions concerning their schools. Gwinnett, which educates 10 percent of the state’s students, is the first school system to accept the challenge of linking accountability with increased flexibility.

“I commend Superintendent Wilbanks and the Gwinnett County Board of Education for their willingness and courage to be held to a higher standard,” said Governor Perdue. “This contract fundamentally shifts the state-local relationship from being based on compliance to a true partnership focused on performance. IE2 is about increasing student achievement, and I am confident that Gwinnett will use its flexibility to deliver superior results and be a model district for the state.”

Under IE2 local school districts work with the Georgia Department of Education and the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement to create a strategic plan that clearly identifies the flexibility sought from Georgia education laws, the accountability goals in addition to federal NCLB requirements the district is willing to accept at the school level in exchange for the flexibility, and the consequences that will be imposed upon the district for schools that do not reach their accountability goals.

The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement will monitor Gwinnett County’s progress towards meeting annual goals and will report these findings to the SBOE each fall. In addition, Gwinnett will provide interventions and sanctions throughout the contract period to those schools that do not meet their annual IE2 accountability goals. Those schools that do not meet their IE2 accountability goals by the end of the contract period will be converted to charter schools.

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