Ga. school board to vote on Forsyth contract

ATLANTA - The Georgia school board is expected to vote Thursday on whether the Forsyth County school district can take advantage of a new program freeing school systems from many state mandates.

Leaders from the 32,500-student district were at the state board meeting Wednesday making their case for why Forsyth should be the second school system in the state to enter into a ``flexibility contract.'' The contracts give districts freedom from state requirements like class size and teacher pay in exchange for promises that students will perform better than is required under the federal No Child Left Behind standards.

Gwinnett County, the state's largest district with 158,000 students, was the first to enter into such a contract.