I was watching Lean On Me the other day, and they needed to get their test scores up or the school would be “taken over by the state”. It was made plain that Paterson wasn’t getting the job done at the high school, before Morgan Freeman straightened things out.
What’s so bad about letting the state take over?
What state was that because it makes a big difference? Different states have different structures for their school districts and varied amounts of autonomy that they have. These days, it wouldn’t be much different at all in many states because the curriculum and administration is already controlled by the state. I doubt that the state is going to bust down the door with a new set of state trooper teachers so I am finding it hard to figure out what else there could be in many states.
The movie was set in Paterson, NJ, but it’s not the first time I heard about an (invariably inner-city) school threatened with state-takeover.
A state take-over is the last thing teachers and administrators want. Basically, the state sends in people who set out exactly who does what when, and no exceptions are tolerated. Administrators are transferred out, and teachers all teach to the letter of the curriculum issued, no ifs, ands or buts. It zeroes out creativity and uniqueness among the faculty. Of course, if this creative, unique staff can’t get test scores up to snuff, maybe a little inspired chicken-shit is just what they need.
Or a man with a baseball bat screaming at everyone all the time. Works either way.
Plus, I would think that if you were a teacher or admin in a school that got taken over by the state, it wouldn’t look good on the ol’résumé if you went looking for a new job.
The macro answer (not that the previous posts are wrong) is that in the U.S., public schools are set up to be controlled locally. The local school district sets its tax rate with the approval of the local voters. The local voters elect a school board, which hires the administrator, who hires the teacher. If the local residents don’t like what the schools are doing, they vote out the school board, defeat the tax issue or whatever else until something changes.
I can’t speak for other states, but around here (Missouri and Illinois) when the state takes over a school district, the unelected state department of education installs an unelected board who do whatever they think is necessary – close schools, hire and fire, drop programs, whatever.
Yeah, you can argue the school district got what it deserved, but when the maintenance services get contracted out and lunch lady Doris and Ed the janitor are suddenly out of work, and your neighborhood school gets consolidated with one 3 miles away, who are you going to compalin to?