Achievement school districts. This concept is one of the changes made by the North Carolina General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Pat McCrory into law as of July 22.

These “school districts” are comprised of elementary schools chosen by the state based on low performance. Once a local board of education is alerted to a school’s qualification to an ASD, it has two options: close the school or hand it over. Power is essentially usurped from local boards of education and placed into the hands of the state-level ASD superintendent and board in an effort to improve a school’s situation.

A school can be transferred into an ASD if: it received a school performance score in the lowest 5 percent of all schools; or it received a school performance score in the lowest 10 percent of all schools that include kindergarten through fifth grade.

The oversight of an ASD school is locked into a contract for five years.

While it is clear the General Assembly is attempting to fix low-performing schools, and they’re certainly making a strong statement, it is all done in the wrong way.

There is no better judge of a school’s situation than local officials. Take Beaufort County’s Board of Education, for example. They know the struggles the schools in this Tier 1 county face, and it’s because they live in the community and see it first hand.

While the problem may not be fixable, or the funds may not be there, these fellow Beaufort County residents understand, and they can work directly with the principals to come up with a solution.

Achievement school districts would take that locality away. The further up the chain one goes, the more problems start and the more issues begin to fall through the cracks.

The state should tread lightly on this matter and only usurp a school if it is in dire need. This new legislation has the potential to bury schools in a pile of red tape, and that’ll only make the problem worse.