On Sept. 12 the Dawson County Board of Education passed a resolution opposing Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment which would create a state run school district for schools that are deemed failing. They join many other school boards across the state in opposing this amendment.

There are multiple problems with this amendment which is why the Dawson BOE opposed it and why voters should vote NO on amendment 1 when they go to the polls.

1. The Amendment creates another layer of bureaucracy in our state government by creating what they call "Opportunity School District" run by a politically appointed superintendent which is chosen solely by whoever is governor at the time.

2. This amendment would take the voice of educators and parents away from these communities, leaving the decisions for the schools up to out-of-state for-profit management companies hired to run these schools. It takes local control away from our schools.

3. There is nothing in this legislation or amendment which describes or discusses what would be done to help these schools and communities improve should they be taken into this district.

4. This has been tried in Tennessee, Michigan and Louisiana, where it has had mixed results. In New Orleans where all the schools were under control of the RSD (their equivalent of OSD) for 10 years, the schools in the RSD scored the lowest of any school district in the state on the ACT. In fact in one school, only 1% of the students scored high enough to qualify for college according to recent reports from ACT. The RSD has since been dissolved.

The last part of the Dawson BOE resolution opposing Amendment 1 states:

Be it resolved, that the Board of Education for Dawson County Schools opposes the creating of a state-run school district, otherwise known as the "Opportunity School District" and that we shall strive to fully educate our community about the issues raised by the proposed amendment."

Thank you Dawson BOE for standing up for parents, children, educators, and communities all around the state by publicly opposing Amendment 1.

Bette Holland
Dawson County