The number of Georgia schools deemed "chronically failing” has grown by 20 percent, according to a new state count.
Fulton County was among the largest contributors to that growth, with four schools added to the list released Thursday by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.
Only Chatham County, with six schools, had more.
The list grew to 153 schools from 127 in 2015, with 13 dropping from the list but 48 performing poorly enough to get added to it.
Its release comes amid speculation about Gov. Nathan Deal's plans to confront the problem after his proposed solution, a statewide Opportunity School District that required a constitutional amendment, lost at the polls in November.
"Putting aside all the rhetoric and the debate over the constitutional amendment that we just came through, the fact remains we still have almost 70,000 children in failing schools in Georgia,” Rep. David Ralston, the House speaker, said. “And so what we do about that is going to be important to me, it's going to be important to the House.”
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