No big surprise here.  UPDATE (12/12/07): OK, I stand corrected.  According to the AJC, many didn’t expect the vote to happen yesterday.  But I’m not all that surprised the commission voted in favor of the TAD.

GoDeKalb reports that the DeKalb County Commission has approved a Tax Allocation District (TAD) in a 5-2 vote (Boyer and Ellis voted against) for the potential Sembler project at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills Road.

The real unpredictable vote still belongs to the DeKalb County school board, which has voiced concern about the tax money that would be taken away from county schools if they were to approve it. Because about 60% 72% of county taxes are dedicated to schools, the future of the Sembler project may hinge on whether the school board will get on board or not.

The AJC notes tonight’s charter school vote and summarizes changes we’ve been reporting for the last few months. The meeting is at 6:30p, I assume at Westchester.

I’ll just cut and paste the whole darn thing…

A new state law signed in May called the Charter Systems Act allows an entire school system such as Decatur’s to operate relatively free of state control. The measure, unique nationally, frees entire school systems, not just individual charter schools, from many standard laws and practices in exchange for demonstrable achievement. What that achievement should be would be spelled out in a charter, or contract, written by the system and approved by the state. Decatur board members are expected to approve a proposed charter tonight.

How It Would Look

In Decatur, the biggest change would be in governance. Schools would establish individual “leadership teams,” giving parents and community members a bigger role in finance and program decisions. The system wants to consider bonus pay for teachers for both school-level and classroom achievement. Tenure and membership in the state’s teacher retirement system would remain. The system also would explore ways for students to earn academic credits based on knowledge, not just classroom time. What would change least? Student testing.

What’s Next

If school board members say so, Decatur’s charter likely would go before the state Board of Education in March or April for final approval. It then would go into effect next school year. Decatur is not the only school system seeking charter status. State officials already have received a charter application from Warren County near Augusta and also expect two other systems to meet a Jan. 15 deadline: Marietta City Schools and Gainesville City Schools.

As stated above, if passed tonight and barring approval from the state, Decatur would be amongst the first charter school systems in the state.

Hattip: InDecatur