Steve Nuzum reports from South Carolina, another state considering the failed policy of school takeovers.
South Carolina, like around twenty other states, allows its state education agency to take control of school districts to intervene in their finances. Local districts are normally, by law, under the control of locally-elected boards of trustees.
As South Carolina’s Daily Gazette reported this week,
The state Department of Education is looking to take over the finances of Marlboro County schools after a multimillion-dollar budget deficit left the rural district with few options, the agency said Thursday.
In its press release, the Department quoted SC Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver: “Our highest priority is ensuring students in Marlboro County have access to a safe, stable, and effective educational environment… Unfortunately, the district’s fiscal condition leaves us no choice but to act.”
But it would be fair to ask, how exactly is a poor, rural district like Marlboro supposed to maintain its local fiscal autonomy when the state legislature is ultimately the largest decider of its revenue?
This question is especially important in light of South Carolina law. As the Department’s press release goes on to point out,
Should conditions in Marlboro County continue to deteriorate, state law provides additional remedies. Per South Carolina Code of Laws Section 59-18-1520, the SCDE may seek the State Board of Education’s approval to declare a state-of-education emergency, which would result in a full state takeover of the district.
Are state takeovers effective?
A few years back, the Washington Post reported that,
At least three studies have found that takeovers don’t increase academic achievement. The latest, a May 2021 working paper by researchers from Brown University and the University of Virginia looked at all 35 state takeovers between 2011 and 2016. “On average, we find no evidence that takeover generates academic benefits,” the researchers concluded.
In general, the authors of the paper found that the process of state takeovers “appears to be disruptive in the early years of takeover, particularly to English Language Arts achievement, although the longer-term effects are less clear.”
The researchers also found that Black and Latino districts were more likely to be taken over by states than majority White districts, even when they had equivalent “academic performance”. A study cited by the authors also found that, “state takeovers of majority-Black districts have been followed by a decrease in the representation of African Americans in local government.”
Read the full post here.