NOLA:

Under Peterson’s bill, the Recovery system would give back oversight of its 52 schools, all of them now charters, as well as control of campuses, enrollment, truancy and expulsion services.

The school system would be reunified, but radically reimagined, like whittling Lincoln Logs to Tinkertoys. The bill would not restore the muscular School Board and superintendent that were undercut in the state takeover; instead, the Recovery schools would return as independent charters run by nonprofit boards, as they are now. The Orleans Parish School Board would be largely an oversight body that sets benchmarks for charters to meet and intervenes to revoke charters if necessary. In fact, the bill includes a provision to give existing Orleans Parish charters the option of gaining more financial autonomy.

And the new system would likely involve some of the same people now in charge. “We will be working to recruit individuals who are currently working at RSD to become OPSB staff,” Lewis said. “That’s part of what needs to happen.”

The bill was a group effort, Peterson said, “heavily negotiated” for more than a month. Lewis and Dobard submitted some of the language themselves, she said, to ensure the compromise would work. Supporters include the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, Stand for Children and numerous Recovery charter schools and networks.