400 Georgia schools will have to pay to bus transfers

ATLANTA - More than 400 Georgia schools will be forced to pay transportation costs for any pupils interested in transferring because the schools failed to meet federal standards for the past two years, state officials announced Thursday. <br> <br> The list of 436 failing schools was released Thursday by State School Superintendent Linda Schrenko. <br> <br> The schools all receive so-called Title I money, federal grants targeted to poor areas. The failing schools had low standardized test scores and failed to improve since the 1999-2000 school year. Schrenko said she wasn&#39;t surprised that nearly half of Georgia&#39;s 1,036 Title I schools didn&#39;t meet the standards. <br> <br> ``Does that mean we&#39;re happy that 400 some odd schools don&#39;t make satisfactory progress? Absolutely not, but we think we can make major improvements,&#39;&#39; said Schrenko, a Republican who is running for governor this year. <br> <br> The Georgia standards conform with President Bush&#39;s ``No Child Left Behind&#39;&#39; Elementary and Secondary Education Act, passed earlier this year. The standards are based on different standardized tests given in different grades. <br> <br> These standards are not related to Gov. Roy Barnes&#39; education package, which was passed in 2000. <br> <br> ``This isn&#39;t Barnes model of reform,&#39;&#39; said Schrenko. ``This is the United States DOE reform.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> If a school fails to meet performance standards for two consecutive years, parents can choose to send their children to higher performing schools in the district, with the low-performing school paying all the transportation costs. <br> <br> Schools failing to meet the standards for three or more years must also provide outside tutorial services to their students, Schrenko said. <br> <br> While many agree that schools should be held accountable, some say financially punishing them is not the answer. <br> <br> ``When you have a poor school, punishing them is not going to help anyone,&#39;&#39; said Tim Callahan, a spokesman for the state&#39;s largest teacher organization, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. <br> <br> Georgia is slated to receive more than $313 million in federal funds to help schools in low-income areas meet the federal standards, said Melinda Malico spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education. <br> <br> ``The focus on the new law is accountability, student achievement, choice for parents, flexibility and doing what works in classrooms,&#39;&#39; she said. <br> <br> Districts that have several or all low-performing schools, will be asked to form cooperatives with neighboring counties, Malico said. That way, students would be able to transfer to better schools in other districts. <br> <br> Some of the low-performing schools are in poor areas of relatively wealthy districts, including Cobb, Columbia, Gwinnett and Forsyth counties. <br> <br> In Atlanta, 28 schools will be affected by the law this fall. <br> <br> Atlanta School Board member Brenda Muhammad says the changes aren&#39;t much different from what&#39;s in place now. <br> <br> ``Parents have the right to transfer their children out of any school they choose,&#39;&#39; she said. ``But now they are responsible for their own transportation if they want to go out of district. <br> <br> ``It would be an enormous undertaking to have to pick up kids all over town, maybe just one or two on an entire trip, and bus them to wherever they want to go. It seems like an unnecessary use of resources.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Callahan agreed. <br> <br> ``The concept behind it is good but this is going to present some serious challenges if they are financially punished,&#39;&#39; he said. ``To me, the answer is let&#39;s fix the schools, not punish them.&#39;&#39;