State Senate adopts rules for high school accrediting agencies

ATLANTA — High school accrediting agencies would have to rate schools and school districts primarily on academic performance rather than the performance of their school boards under legislation that has cleared the Georgia Senate.

Senate Bill 498, which passed unanimously and now moves to the state House of Representatives, was prompted by a recent review by the accrediting agency Cognia that criticized the governance of the Cobb County Board of Education, made up of four Republicans and three Democrats.

The agency subsequently voided most of the review’s findings after determining it didn’t account for the school district’s response to how it spends tax dollars.

But such issues should not be front and center of an accrediting agency’s review, Sen. Lindsey Tippins, R-Marietta, the bill’s chief sponsor, said before the Senate vote.

“The core business of education is academic performance,” Tippins, chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said. “What [colleges] are not looking for is an evaluation of whether the adults play well together.”

Under Tippins’ bill, 80% of accreditation reviews must be based on academic performance. The other 20% would be based on financial accountability and efficiency.

“This bill focuses on the students … and the quality of education they receive,” Tippins said.

The legislation also would subject all documents created by accrediting agencies to Georgia’s open records law.

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