An amended version of the Senate bill to merge the Leflore County and Greenwood school districts is now awaiting a vote from the full Senate after receiving committee approval.
The Carroll County School District was dropped from a similar consolidation bill that would’ve combined it with the Montgomery County and Winona school districts.
The Greenwood and Leflore County consolidation bill, which was passed by the Senate Education Committee Tuesday, now calls for three of the five school board members for a consolidated Greenwood Leflore School District to be appointed by the Greenwood mayor and City Council.
The remaining two board members would be elected by Leflore County residents outside the Greenwood corporate limits. All members would serve four-year terms. The bill, which would administratively consolidate the two districts by July 1, 2015, originally called for all five board members to be chosen in countywide elections.
The bill was also amended to shorten the waiver period the new unified district would be granted from state assessment and accountability standards from three years to two years. The waiver would ensure the district remains accredited even if students initially struggle during the merger.
Greenwood schools are home to approximately 2,700 students, while around 2,800 students attend Leflore County schools.
Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, made the changes to the bill.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, a member of the Education Committee and a previous opponent of consolidation, voted for the bill. He said he was prepared to push for similar changes in the bill but was satisfied with Tollison’s amended version.
Still, Jordan said the bill has a long way to go before being signed into law and may be altered again.
“The bill has got to go through five or six more steps,” Jordan said. “We don’t know what it will look like after it’s gone through those steps.”
Greenwood Superintendent Montrell Greene, who attended Tuesday’s vote along with school board members Bill Clay and George Ellis, said he’d been able to meet with a number of key legislators, both before and after the hearing.
“I think (the bill) is a work in progress,” Greene said. “There were some changes, but we don’t think it’s a perfect situation at this point. That’s why the process is not over yet.”
Greene declined to say what changes he’d like to see made to the bill.
The Greenwood School Board has come out against the original bill, arguing that the 18-month timeline for consolidation was too fast and that the state should be allowed more time to correct issues in the Leflore County district.
The state took over the Leflore County district in late October following the declaration of a state of emergency by Gov. Phil Bryant. The state contended that an “atrocious educational condition” existed in the district.
Efforts to consolidate the two districts were boosted last week when state-appointed Conservator Robert Strebeck appeared before the Senate Education Committee to describe conditions in the Leflore County district, which he’s run since the state takeover.
In his Jan. 28 testimony, Strebeck described bloated payrolls, decrepit buildings and severe academic problems in the district, including some high school students who struggle to read.
Strebeck, who has served as conservator in five other districts, described the problems in the Leflore County district as the worst he’s ever seen.
During debate Tuesday, Jordan said that the leadership of the Greenwood School District hasn’t been a problem and that it would be unfair to replace Greene, who was appointed the city schools’ superintendent last April.
“I hope he will be given some consideration,” Jordan said, according to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson.
The current bill does not mandate school closures, but Jordan said the committee discussed the possibility of eventually consolidating students in the combined district into larger, more modern facilities.
“There may be a possibility that at some point, they may have to build a big high school that would take in all students,” Jordan said. “There are a lot of options out there once we get under this one system.”
In addition to the proposed mergers in Leflore and Montgomery counties, the Senate panel also passed a third consolidation measure to combine the districts in Claiborne and Jefferson counties.
