Lincoln County superintendents say a proposal by the governorthat would allow some high-performing school districts to runthemselves without help from the state would likely have only aminimal impact here.

The “Home Rule” bill has passed the Senate and been sent to theHouse for debate. It is a key component in Gov. Haley Barbour’s2006 education program.

“I like the language because I know how hard our people areworking to obtain this,” said Lincoln County Superintendent TerryBrister. “I appreciate the governor considering what teachers aredoing.”

The bill would release level 4 and 5 school districts from muchof the state’s micromanagement at each school. Federal regulationswould not be affected.

The bill would have the greatest local effect on the LincolnCounty School District, where all schools have been rated level 4except West Lincoln Attendance Center, which has a level 5 rating.Schools are rated on a scale from 1, meaing poor, to 5, meaningsuperior, based on state testing scores.

Brookhaven School District Superintendent Lea Barrett andLincoln County School Superintendent Terry Brister said they didnot know all the particulars of the bill, but said it could providesome room to maneuver financially to some districts.

“It gives you more authority to make more decisions,” Barrettsaid.

The bill would exempt many districts from state “processstandards,” which regulate a lot of school functions.

Process standards also regulate the student-teacher ratio in theclassroom, among many other things. For example, schools with morethan 500 students are required to have a full-time librarian.

Under the bill, level 4 and 5 schools would be able to determinethose issues themselves.

“You could do what the school deemed appropriate,” Barrettsaid.

However, Barrett said the change would likely have little effecton the Brookhaven School District, where only Mamie MartinElementary School and Brookhaven Elementary School would meet thecriteria for home rule.

“I don’t know in reality how much change we would do,” she said.”I don’t know what the impact would be.”

Brister agreed. The exemptions provided under home rule wouldlikely have little effect on Lincoln County operations, hesaid.

The programs covered under process standards are already inplace, he said, and there is no real reason to discontinuethem.

Where home rule could have an effect, Brister said, was when thenumber to students only slightly exceeded the student-to-teacherratio. Under home rule, they could include the students over themandated limit without having to form an additional class, whichmight mean the hiring of another teacher.

The bill would also exempt schools from personnel performanceevaluations and staff development directives and provides for meritpay for teachers based on school performance and a mentorprogram.