While those ideas get batted around, here’s what’s been going on in state-run districts in other states:
The Louisiana Legislature created the Recovery School District in 2003 and gave it more latitude to reshape the landscape of schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Today the Recovery School District comprises 57 independent charter schools enrolling more than 30,000 students in New Orleans, according to the organization’s annual report.
The standardized test scores for the district rose faster than any other public school system in the state, according to results from spring 2013.
But others have questioned reports of academic improvement for children in the system.
The Achievement School District in Tennessee was created in 2010 as a result of the state’s winning application for Race to the Top federal education funds.
According to its website, the district intends to be overseeing 30 schools and about 10,000 students by 2015-’16.
The goal of the Achievement School District is to boost the state’s bottom 5% of schools into the top 25% of schools, either by running them itself, or selecting charter school management companies to do so. The Achievement School District answers to the Tennessee Department of Education.
Long term disastrous reading results surely merits more than status quo governance.