Georgia Charter School Amendment Dies in House
Decatur Metro | February 8, 2012From the Atlanta Business Chronicle…
The Georgia House of Representatives Wednesday defeated a constitutional amendment aimed at allowing the state to create charter schools.
While 110 lawmakers supported the proposal and 62 voted against it, the measure failed to gain the two-thirds majority needed to approve constitutional amendments.
As many of you are aware, CSD adamantly opposed the amendment, which would have overridden a State Supreme Court decision last year which ruled the State Charter School commission was unconstitutional. Many metro Atlanta school systems opposed the commission because it was granted the authority to single-handedly create local charter schools – and thus divert per-student funding – without any consent from local populations.
Thanks to Steve for forwarding!
I’m confused, isn’t CSD a charter school system?
I believe the difference is that ours is a charter system created and managed locally. The issue at hand was whether or not the State Commission could create local charter schools. Others, I’m sure, have a better handle on it and can provide more detail.
A charter school system is a completely different animal from a charter school. A principal I know once described it as an oxymoron. A charter school system has some freedom from certain state requirements as long as it meets certain accountability measures–hence the appeal to school systems. Plus a small amount of funding (which may go away) is provided to charter systems. In addition, the schools making up that charter system are supposed to have some local control over certain non-systemic activities (through the School Leadership Team process in Decatur, for example.) But many decisions remain at a central system level.
A charter school has much more local control over decisions. Even charter school systems are wary of the formation of charter schools because they syphon off resources from the system. I don’t completely understand the financial and political issues involved. This law would have allowed the state to approve charter schools, and syphon off proportional funding away from the school system, without the assent of the school board or superintendant.
As I noted in another thread, the central issue is whether or not a charter school which has not been approved by a local school board can bypass the local and get state approval as a local charter school, thereby obligating the local district to provide funding for a school they didn’t approve. This amendment would have overridden a state supreme court decision that disallowed local charter schools that were not approved by local boards.
Note that there are still state-only charter schools which receive no local funding.
Whew. We dodged a big bullet here guys. The gun was aimed at us and the trigger pulled by mainly rural and very “conservative” law makers. I will not mention their political party.
You do know that the Republicans are the majority in the Ga. House, right? So, it was those mainly rural and very “conservative” law makers that helped defeat the passage of the amendment.
You should also realize that it was the supporters of the Big State Education system that didn’t want this to pass. Georgia’s school system is failing on a massive level, so if there’s something that those supporters don’t like – I can’t imagine it being that bad at all.
Who supported the amendment? Oh, only the majority of Georgia voters (multiple surveys point this out) and the Georgia Charter Schools Association, among others…
Boy, those groups sound so very “conservative” and absolutely evil. It never surprises me how someone so “liberal”-minded is usually the most close-minded of all.
Ok sorry to ask a stupid question but does that mean Charter Schools like the Museum School and others in the area are safe? I knew (or thought) that this decision would directly impact them and their ability to operate?????
It could affect them. I don’t know the situation on the specific school or any other. You would have to ask the school.
Probably depends on whether DeKalb County (or whatever school system) is supportive of them or not. I actually don’t quite understand why any school system ever approves a charter school given that they lose some financial and political control. Maybe they are pressured by constituents who, in the end, elect the School Board? Maybe they are realistic that certain schools or students will never improve without some kind of radical action? Maybe they are sick of handling certain problematic schools or students?
From my understanding, the proposed amendment would not have a negative effect on the Museum School or any other current charter that people know and love (it doesn’t close a school or anything like that).
The purpose of the amendment, in a nutshell, is this: If a community wants a charter school and has the support but the local boards or system do not approve, then that community can go to the State for approval. Currently, communities have no recourse if the local board/system shoots them down.
Often, lack of approval is due to many of the issues stated by ‘At Home in Decatur’ – the lost financial and political control. The amendment gives communities another avenue to work around territorial boards and/or systems.
Actually, schools that don’t have local approval can still become charter schools now by going straight to the state and become a “state charter school”. If the state approves, they can operate but they will not get local funding. The amendment would have forced the local board to provide funding whether they wanted to or not.
Interesting as this becomes clearer to me. Does the state fund state charter schools at all? What are the criteria for approving a state charter school? How many state charter schools are there and what is their reputation/track record?
Yes the state does fund charter schools (local or state) just like they fund public schools. As to the criteria, you’d have to ask the Ga Dept of Education. Likewise the numbers.
Schools that aren’t afraid of a little competition would not have “adamantly opposed the amendment.” As long as a school system is doing its job, they don’t have to worry about losing students to charters.
This is true in theory, and that argument has been made here before. The read I get from CSD is that they’re SO financially strapped that this point that even the threat of an ad-hoc charter school scares them. (They weren’t allowed to participate in the original lawsuit against the state charter school commission because they couldn’t prove “harm”) Whether it is warranted or not is up for debate, but since they’re the ones living with the reality of tightened purse strings, it’s hard for me and my arm-chair to judge.
Steve’s right, the state can currently approve charter schools that fail to gain approval from local boards of education, so this fight is really about how special state charter schools are funded. We did dodge a bullet, and I appreciate CSD’s stance on this issue.
However, the House voted to reconsider HR 1162 today, so the resolution is likely to be back on the House floor next week. Rep. Rahn Mayo, who, I understand, may after redistricting represent some parts of City of Decatur, supports HR 1162 and spoke in favor of it on the House floor. Now is a good time for Decatur-area folks who oppose HR 1162 to let him know that CSD can’t afford to lost a dime to this scheme.
The Other 5ide’s hyperbolic allegation that “supporters of the Big State Education system…didn’t want this to pass. Georgia’s school system is failing on a massive level,” probably refers to the fact that the teacher organizations, school superintendents, school boards, and the GA PTA oppose the legislation. If every major education organization in the state and CSD oppose HR 1162, maybe they’re on to something….
I am not in favor of having the State be able to compel a local school district to fund a charter school, mostly because I think the hidden agenda is to undermine public education. Imperfect as it is, public education has made this nation great and distinguished it from other parts of the world that have had more class-based systems, IMHO. I’m not as into the autonomy issue because I think that’s more about turf and control. Sometimes school systems use their autonomy to the students’ benefit, sometimes not so much. But I trust the State even less to prioritize students over political and social agendas.
Charter schools per se do not bother me. The potential for charter applications exerts a pressure on school systems to deliver high quality instruction and good customer service. Otherwise, their families may be attracted to charters. It does bother me that a lot of charter schools seem to promise more than they can deliver. On the other hand, some charter schools, like the International and Museum schools,seem like enlightened private schools minus the exclusivity.
Ditto that At Home.
Jay Bookman’s take: http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/02/10/charter-school-amendment-a-dangerous-power-grab/