For a little more than two years, Eric Thomas has served as Georgia’s chief turnaround officer — charged by legislation to turn around the state’s chronically failing schools. He was hired as the first CTO in late 2017 under former Gov. Nathan Deal as a result of House Bill 338 or ‘The First Priority Act.’ Last week Thomas turned in his resignation to State Board of Education Chairman Scott Sweeney. Under the legislation that created the position, the CTO answers to the State Board of Education and not the State School Superintendent.
In his letter of resignation, Thomas said cited “several overarching decision points,” for his resignation — including saying that “The First Priority Act may have not been given the true priority status (“911”) needed.”
He also stated listed as reasons for resigning:
● The myriad of hurdles that have recently been shared impacted greater success.
● The structural friction between the State Superintendent and the State Board creates a drain on productivity.
According to the letter of resignation, which will be effective May 30, 2020, this was Thomas’ third “attempt” at resigning since efforts were made last year to restructure HB 338.
“I appreciated and was deeply humbled by Board members and others asking me to forgo previous resignations. My wife and I firmly believe we have now arrived at such a transition point.”
During the 2019 legislative session, Rep. Kevin Tanner (R-Dawsonville) introduced HB 32 that would “revise and clarify certain provisions relating to the duties of the Chief Turnaround Officer,” including shifting his direct report from the State Board of Education to the State School Superintendent. That bill also would have allowed the Governor to appoint someone to the position should it become vacant. The bill stalled during the 2019 session, but is still alive for the 2020 session.
At the time the bill passed the House Education Committee, Rep. Tanner — who was the main sponsor of HB 338 that created the CTO office — said, “The work of the Chief Turnaround Officer has been successful, and I appreciate the House leading the way on this two years ago. However, I have been in conversations with the Governor and his staff, and the Governor’s desire is to move the CTO to the Department of Education and the State School Superintendent.”
In the resignation letter, Thomas said the CTO office “executed on controversial legislation and created a strategic support and accountability model to potentially impact 1.8 million students.”
In the past month, it was announced that the Department of Education was performing an internal audit of the CTO office. Officials said that investigation was triggered by allegations of discrimination, conflict of interest and misuse of funds by a whistleblower. It has now been sent to the state inspector general.
In reference to the audit, Thomas provided a written statement that said, “Regarding the “audit” thus far – I have not seen it. Although there were some generic initial questions via email, incredibly I was not interviewed regarding this matter. On three separate occasions I expressed my eagerness to have a face-to-face interview. None were obliged. Additionally, the “GaDOE internal team” refused to accept offered information from me. My belief is that a more neutral party, like the IG’s Office, will more effectively manage this…”
