No surprise: House passes charter school amendment
With the House leadership in overdrive to convert dissenters, the charter school amendment passed on a reconsideration vote today.
The battle — which is defined either as a victory for parental choice or an attack on local control, depending on your position – now moves to the Senate.
The Senate will easily pass the bill to allow a constitutional amendment that would enable the state to get in the charter school approval business. The Senate vote pushes the fight to the public arena as the amendment has to win voter support in November.
We will be talking about this amendment and what it does or doesn’t do for the next nine months.
Georgia’s House of Representatives passed charter schools legislation that would, if later approved by the Senate, send to voters a proposed constitutional amendment on whether states should have more authority to create charter schools.
Wednesday’s vote, 123-48, surpassed the two-thirds majority needed on legislation that would put a referendum before voters, and it came two weeks after charter schools backers in the House fell 10 votes short of the needed two-thirds majority.
“I think we have a good bill, a good resolution,” said Speaker Pro-Tempore Jan Jones, the Milton Republican who wrote the charter schools legislation. “It took us a while to get here.”
Charter schools supporters turned to the General Assembly after the state Supreme Court ruled last May that the state-established Charter Schools Commission did not have the authority to create or fund charter schools over the objections of local school boards.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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125 comments Add your comment
RobertT
February 23rd, 2012
9:39 am
Charter Schools are simply public schools run in the background by For Profit Corporations. Charter Schools use public tax dollars to create a higher cost education with no local financial oversight by the taxpayer. Chip Rogers is in the business of making his friends rich at the taxpayers’ expense and sticking the taxpayer with cost. Who pays the expensive long-term leases and other contracts the Charter School setup with the For Profit Corporation – the taxpayer? Who negotiated the leases with these For Profit Corporations that bind the taxpayer to paying for these inflated costs? Not the local school board or the taxpayer, why it is a friend of “Chip”. By the way the Charter School Chip tried to pushed through in Cherokee County couldn’t answer what their lauded curriculum consisted of or the details of the curriculum when asked by the School Board. Why? Because the For Profit Corporation in the background that would profit from this school doesn’t have one or couldn’t provide one. Charter Schools – the new snake oil.
rascal
February 23rd, 2012
9:44 am
Yes, we elect idiots, but we also allow idiots to teach school. The unions have insured that competent teachers won’t apply and the few that slip through the cracks and get into teaching tend to leave the profession out of frustration See the comments in the article and you will see there is a good reason for failure and a lot of it is directly related to unions preventing competence to drive “who gets to teach”.
http://educationnext.org/the-mystery-of-good-teaching/
“Who should be recruited to fill the two to three million K-12 teaching positions projected to come open during the next decade? What kinds of knowledge and training should these new recruits have? These are the questions confronting policymakers as a generation of teachers retires at the same time that the so-called baby boom echo is making its way through the education system. Key to answering these questions is knowing how much influence teachers have over student achievement and what specific teacher attributes lead to higher student achievement. For instance, does holding a master’s degree make one a better teacher? Do the best teachers hail from elite universities? Did they earn high GPAs in college? Did they major in the subject they are teaching? How much does experience matter? Do traditional, university-based teacher-preparation programs produce the best teachers, or are alternatively certified teachers just as good?
These questions are particularly relevant given that researchers have raised concerns about the overall quality of today’s teaching workforce. As measured by standardized test scores (mainly the SAT and the ACT), students choosing to major in education tend to be drawn from the lower end of the ability distribution. In Who Will Teach?, Harvard University professor of education Richard Murnane and his colleagues write: “College graduates with high test scores are less likely to take [teaching] jobs, employed teachers with high test scores are less likely to stay, and former teachers with high test scores are less likely to return.” On average, according to the findings of University of Massachusetts economist Dale Ballou, the higher the quality of an individual’s undergraduate institution, the less likely a student is to choose a teaching career. Moreover, during the past 25 years the share of master’s and doctoral degrees in education granted by top-tier public and private research universities has declined dramatically. And of students who graduated from college in 1993 and 1994, data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond survey show that those who entered the public school teaching profession averaged a 923 on the SATs; the average SAT of those entering other professions was about 80 points higher. The results are even more dramatic when one compares the SATs of teachers with those of people entering technical professions, such as engineering.”
OUR TEACHERS HAVE AN AVERAGE SAT SCORE of 923!!!!!
A blind walrus can score 923 on the SAT
The profession is unattractive to intelligent people because you have to be in a union, you have to put up with incompetent co-workers, bureaucratic procedures, a never changing process and make the same money as those incompetents even if you are exceptional.
Ron F.
February 23rd, 2012
9:55 am
rascal: since we don’t have teacher unions in Georgia, nor do they have them in any “right-to-work state”, your arguement about the unions is ridiculous. I’ll agree that the unions are imperfect and often self-serving, but having taught my entire career in a right-to-work state, I can say there are many times when I wish we had one. Teachers- the front line troops in the battle, the educated deliverers of education to any and all kids, have little if any say in education policy. As I’ve said before to many, come do the job for a while and let me know what you think then. It’s easy to sit back and pontificate from as an observer; it’s another thing entirely when you’re in the classroom.
Ned
February 23rd, 2012
10:04 am
@RobertT:
You say: “Charter Schools are simply public schools run in the background by For Profit Corporations.” This is NOT true of all charter schools. Parent and community-initiated start-up and conversion charters are NOT the same as corporate-run charters. They simply are not. To assert all charters are for-profit is disingenuous at best.
Patrick Crabtree
February 23rd, 2012
10:15 am
@Donia
Before you talk about choice, know constituational law! You have a coice, PAY FOR IT! Public teaches all, not a select few. Notice the law says ADEQUATE not your version.
The Georgia Constitution declares that “the provision of an adequate public education for the citizens shall be a primary obligation of the State of Georgia.” 1 Providing an adequate public education involves a partnership between the state government and local units of government, the 180 local school districts of the state. In addition, Georgia law provides that both the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Corrections are to be considered a “special school district” for the purpose of providing an education to school-age youths incarcerated within facilities under their jurisdiction and for the purpose of applying for federal funds. The Board of Juvenile Justice and the Board of Corrections serve as governing boards of education for these school districts.2 Georgia’s school districts are governed by local boards of education elected by the citizens and administered by school superintendents and other leadership personnel employed by these boards. While local boards of education are charged with the “management and control” of the public schools, they must respond to and follow the federal and state laws, regulations and rules enacted by the Congress, Georgia’s General Assembly, the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education and many other state and federal administrative agencies and the subsequent interpretations placed on those enactments by the state and federal courts.
Georgia is divided into 159 counties, each of which constitutes a school district. In addition, 21 cities have maintained independent school districts, for a total of 180 separate school districts operated and managed by a local board of education. To understand how each of these school districts and schools is governed requires some knowledge of the complex governance structure which is contained in state law. This chapter will summarize the provisions of Georgia’s Constitution and several state statutes which create and define those basic structures of public school governance.
Patrick Crabtree
February 23rd, 2012
10:17 am
Ooops…….constitutional…..choice……bad typer, but an excellent teacher!
Patrick Crabtree
February 23rd, 2012
10:37 am
@CharterStarter
“We HAVE to raise the bar in Georgia.” If so, check out the performance of charters. They ‘CHEAT’ too and still can’t compete with public schools, do your homework. Stop the lying, the real reason is ‘eliteism, racism, classism and narrow religious vews being forced on the public when it is constitutionally, illegal.’
Mary Elizabeth
February 23rd, 2012
10:43 am
Here is the link that will show you how the vote went down for the adoption of HR 1162 (the charter bill resolution) yesterday, February 22, 2012:
http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/Vote.aspx?VoteID=8702
William Casey
February 23rd, 2012
12:09 pm
@CharterStarter: You are correct about national charter school statistics. However, I have two bits of evidence that convinces me that your scenario will not take place:
1. I have knowledge of the history of education in Georgia.
2. I actually taught in south Georgia.
As Yogi Berra put it: “it’s deja vu all over again. I hope I’m wrong.
CharterStarter, Too
February 23rd, 2012
2:05 pm
@ Patrick Crabtree – lol – I have run the charter numbers. Please do this exercise…tell me what percentage of charter school students are in needs improvement schools versus traditional public schools? What percentage of charters MADE AYP when their districts didn’t? When you actually disaggregate data, it is clear that in districts where there are charters, they are outperforming on the whole. I don’t have to lie. Any person who cares to check the numbers themselves can do so. Please do.
CharterStarter, Too
February 23rd, 2012
2:18 pm
@ William Casey – look at Pataula Charter Academy – a rural southwest Georgia charter serving 5 counties. They already more integrated than the traditional school systems and are getting closer and closer to representing the demographics of the communities they serve. AND in their first year of operation they made AYP. They are working hard, pushing the boundaries with some really innovative, research based practices…and they are engaging parents and the community and have a strong governing board of stakeholders. Go visit and see them in action.
Give the charters in Georgia a chance to SHOW you what is possible.
William Casey
February 23rd, 2012
2:43 pm
@CharterStarter: thanks for the info. My problem is not with existing charter schools but rather with the thinly-veiled “private” type charters likely to spring-up under state “supervision.” I’ll Google Pataula and hopefully be able to read their charter.
Statesboro Teacher
February 23rd, 2012
3:07 pm
The Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts & Technology in Statesboro which is a state chartered charter school only allows 25 students PER GRADE and Atlanta is lifting all limits on class sizes for public schools? The teachers in my school have 32 students PER CLASS. The argument is always that charters are more successful because they are free from the regulations that choke public schools. If the public schools are being choked by regulations, why not remove all the choking regulations? Ain’t gonna happen is it? Teachers haven’t gotten raises for several years now and are furloughed several days each year (so they can do the same work at home without pay) they are cutting teachers every year and coming up with new ways to increase their student load, yet taxpayers are being asked to fund a school with only 25 students per grade? Yes Utopia would be great but the bottom line is that a whole new layer of expense is incurred with a new school – rent and utilities and staff and administration for a select few. There isn’t money to fund the schools that already exist and Rep. Jan has yet to tell us what magic hat she will pull these funds from to fund these schools.
3schoolkids
February 23rd, 2012
10:58 pm
I looked at Pataula Charter’s AYP report and the reports from the systems it pulls students from. Please note I really hate AYP and I don’t think it is fair to students to make comparisons. But since this school was mentioned in an earlier post I felt the need to research. Pataula Charter serves Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Early and Randolph counties. I only looked at elementary schools because that is the focus of Pataula Charter right now. I also did not look at scores by grade level, just reviewed the AYP report for each comparable school. Early County Elementary did not make AYP because they did not succeed in the SWD category (which is 17% of their student population). Strangely enough, Pataula (with an 11% SWD population) had a lower percentage of students in the SWD Meets + Exceeds, but they made AYP and Early Co. didn’t. In terms of racial demographics, Pataula is integrated, but the ratio is much different than any of the other county or city schools in the geographic area they draw from. Their student population is around 50% economically disadvantaged. Randolph Co. Elementary made AYP so I did not delve into their information. Baker County did not meet AYP but they are a Pk-12 school, and their demographis are WAY out from Pataula Charter at 100% in the Economically Disadvantaged category. Calhoun County and City Elementary both made AYP so I did not examine their scores. Clay County met AYP and their school also is at 100% in economically disadvantaged students. Not to draw away from any of their students achievements but Pataula’s scores are in line with how the other schools are doing, especially when you factor in demographics. And, in fact their CRCT math scores are actually lower (in meets+exceeds percentage) than several of the other schools (including Early Co. which did not meet AYP). Their Charter contract allows them maximum flexibility and their “essential innovative features” are that they serve 5 counties and they “offer an instructional design that offers a constructivist, project based learning approach.” Their academic goals are tied to outperforming their peers on ITBS and I have not been able to locate their 2011 scores online so I can’t compare those. However, their Charter petition outlines reasons for forming to include poor CRCT & AYP performance by local schools serving the region, yet that bar will not be used to measure their academic success. I truly wish their students much success, just wish our State would see the wisdom in trying innovative techniques in existing schools instead of setting up experiments (which DO take money away from the local schools, even if they are not receiving local tax dollars). And they really must do away with full flexibility blanket waivers. By the time the state finds out someone is breaking their contract, misusing funds or that the experiment is not working it will have been a very expensive venture (and I don’t just mean money).
patrick crabtree
February 24th, 2012
5:43 am
@Charter. I did see the Atlanta numbers and I know the national numbers too. 83% are below public schools. I stand by what I said earlier. Follow the money, it is not about the students and helping them, otherwise, as Statesboro said, that the LAWS WHOULD BE CHANGED. We do miracles with our limitations.
Georgia Education = Big Fat Fail
February 24th, 2012
6:30 am
At first I was truly amazed to read all the comments in support of public school systems. After considering the very low education performance of the state, I realized why the comments are what they are.
rascal
February 24th, 2012
8:45 am
RON F – While Georgia’s teachers may not have to join a union in a RTW state, they still organize and fight against every change the the system that keeps bad teachers in jobs. They use there position with the families of Georgia to falsely claim that any change to their protected status as teachers through tenure rules, any change in allowing higher pay for good teachers, eliminating bad teachers, would be drastic and unfair. See Dowd’s article above about how APS is trying to fire those that cheated on the CRCTs.
“Since July, Atlanta Public Schools has spent $6.2 million to pay the salaries of educators placed on administrative leave. The district can’t fire them because of state employment laws and a lack of access to critical evidence. That may be ending soon. Atlanta Public Schools is meeting today and Friday with educators to tell them they have to resign or be fired.”
Here is a web site with some actual facts about teacher unions and union actions in Georgia.
http://teacherunionexposed.com/state.cfm?state=GA
To find out the truth about teacher union strength in Ga, watch how the unions from all over the country pullout all stops to prevent this bill from passing.
I respect and care a great deal about GOOD TEACHERS. I have always said that teaching is an impossible job in the environment allowed in schools these days. I have several good friends that are teachers and all want to leave the profession due to the inability to make anything change. Good teachers will always be paid well and be very employable. Why can’t they see that a competitive environment for their talents will only make the system better. Almost every employee in this country does so in a competitive environment and I bet you their job satisfaction is substantially higher than teacher satisfaction. Teachers need to relax and help the system change and stop protecting all the bad teachers soiling the profession.
3schoolkids
February 24th, 2012
10:59 am
@Rascal: Difficulting in ending employment for teachers who should no longer be teaching definitely plays a part in the Charter movement. Strangely enough it was Sonny Perdue who signed Georgia Senate Bill 193 in 2004 which restored teacher protection measures Roy Barnes had succeeded in eliminating. Creating another administrative heirarchy in expanding state charters is not the answer. And I wonder about the legislative influence of the Georgia Charter Schools Association, a “membership organization” that funded a Legislative shindig in January without having to file disclosure due to their nonprofit status. For that matter, I wonder about the nonprofit status of our Charter schools, whose leaders are supposed to be devoid of legislative influence. How about Georgia Charters that participated in the movie “Making The Grade?” which was shown at GOP Town Hall Meetins all over the state leading up to the vote on HR1162?
pleasebeserious
February 24th, 2012
12:26 pm
Research has shown that many states who have supported and opened charters are performing much better with charters. Florida is one of these states. The majority of the comments on this page are obviously teachers and parents who are happy with mediocre schools. This is very sad. If we required more of our teachers and paid them more, we would not be discussing school choice at all.
CharterStarter, Too
February 24th, 2012
2:01 pm
@ 3schoolkids – THANK YOU for taking time to delve some into the data for Pataula. It is a breath of fresh air to see people willing to go look for the facts and to reason out things in an intelligent, thoughtful way. Let me give you a little more data and general information to round out things a bit. @ William Casey – I hope this helps you, too.
Pataula has been open only one year. The founders started the school with the intent of raising the bar in education and helping to keep families IN their communities and to attract and retain businesses. The group was comprised of public school educators and community members and parents. The local economies are so, so poor down there and the group was fearful of the future for their families. They love where they live and their families’ histories and wanted to make a difference.
They wanted a school that reflected their community demographics, and they set out to market to make sure this happened. Crossing ingrained racial barriers is very, very difficult, but they are determined and continue to demonstrate that their school welcomes ALL students and believes that EVERY child can learn and contributes an important part to the PCA community.
The demographics of the districts they serve are between 50/50 and 60/40 minority/white (census data on minorities: Baker – 52.4%, Calhoun – 66.4%, Clay – 62.7%, Early – 51.6%, Randolph – 64%), and county poverty rates are between 28 and 34%.. The school districts, in contrast, communities are almost 100% minority (Baker – 87%, Calhoun – 99%, Clay – 99%, Early – 69%, and Randolph – 94%), and their FRL rates are excessively high: 84%, 94%, 91%, 76%, and 90%.) Several of these districts been been under a desegregation order for 30 years, and yet, the schools are segregated.
So, we have school districts that are VERY unbalanced with their communities. On top of all of this, these districts are some of the highest funded districts in the state (Baker – $14,471 per pupil, Calhoun – $10,822, Clay – $14,942, Early – $10,512, and Randolph – $9,661) – this came from the state department’s financial revenue report for 2011. And, they are some of the lowest achieving in the state. Taxpayers in these communities should be asking some VERY tough questions about why the districts are not reflective of the communities they serve and why the return on investment (academic achievement) is so low. Our legislators, in particular, should be raising an eyebrow at this.
Pataula is trying – really, really trying, to make a difference. They are more integrated than the districts they serve, and they continue to reach out to make sure everyone in these communities have an opportunity. In addition, they (at a HUGE cost) are providing transportation to make sure there are no barriers to attendance.
The return on investment with Pataula is very strong. Unfortunately, with the Supreme Court ruling, their funding has been cut drastically. They are operating on $4900 per pupil (in contrast to the $10-$14k of their districts) – living on a tiny little budget and watching every penny… and yet…after their very first year, here’s how they did on CRCT (just pulled 3rd and 5th grade since these are gateway years, and they didn’t serve 8th yet):
* 3rd Reading – outperformed all counties. Outperformed Baker by 35 pts. and Clay by 28
* 3rd ELA – outperformed 4/5 districts – Outperformed Baker by 31 pts.
* 3rd SS – outperformed 4/5 districts – Outperformed Baker by 47 pts, Clay by 13, Early by 18, and Randolph by 30
* 3rd Science – outperformed 4/5 districts – Outperformed Bakeer by 33, clay by 17, Early by 13, and Randolph by 15
* 5th Reading – outperformed 4/5 districts – Outperformed Baker by 19 pts., Calhoun by 18, Early and Randolph by 15.
* 5th ELA – outperformed 4/5 districts – Outperformed Baker by 28, Early and Randolph by 13
* 5th SS – outperformed 3/5 districts – Outperformed Baker by 20 and Randolph by 19 pts
* 5th Science – outperformed all 5 districts – Ouperformed Baker by 22, Calhoun by 16, Clay by 13, Early by 31, and Randolph by 32.
Math is their weaker area, but I know that is part of their improvement plan. And even still, they outperformed some of the districts in the 2 grades. I can’t WAIT to see how they continue to progress!
The districts also have very high remedial and SPED populations – higher by far than state averages. I find it very interesting that Calhoun County had 28.7% in remedial elem. and then went up to 94.7% in middle school remedial. Randolph had a similar phenomenon, although not as stark. One would think that the kids in these programs would IMPROVE over time, not triple in the number who are at risk. These are kids who have been in these districts their whole school careers – what is happening? What gives? These “compensatory” programs feed in more money to the districts. Perhaps I’m making assumptions, but it is just odd to me that they are so highly funded but so low performing. It makes me fearful of the quality of the workforce they are producing in their communities.
Without Patuala, what options do any of the children in these districts have? If they can’t afford private school and obviously, the district offices are not driving meaningful instructional policies and providing teachers with the supports/development/tools they need to improve outcomes, what are families to do? They have 2 choices: Move or go to a private school (if they can afford it). For some families, neither of these is an option.
These things I am saying are truly, truly not meant to be ugly. But the facts ARE ugly – and many want the public to ignore things going on in our state that have been a part of the fabric of our local communities. We CAN NOT ignore it anymore. We CAN NOT continue to blame poverty and uninvolved parents – I mentioned the 90-90-90 schools as a point that if some can do it, all can. Our entire state’s economy is on the decline, and our children are failing. We HAVE to wake up and make some tough changes and reform how we educate our students.
CharterStarter, Too
February 24th, 2012
2:21 pm
Re: Educational Management Companies
I totally understand the perception that folks have the charter schools are here to grow private EMO organizations. But here are the facts:
There are 17 management company run schools in our state – and 4 of them are non-profit (KIPP).
Of these schools, ALL of them are governed by non-profit boards who had to negotiate a contract, and had to have the contract and charter plan approved by their local district and/or the state. Those management companies who have done poorly are being fired by their boards (i.e., Kennesaw Charter and a couple of others) have separated from Imagine.
Management companies CAN be good IF they 1) provide a good value for their services 2) Provide high academic outcomes and 3) have strong boards to oversee them and hold them accountable. The districts and the state are becoming more rigorous in expectations of founding groups, particularly those who are choosing to work with management organizations.
CharterStarter, Too
February 24th, 2012
2:25 pm
@ 3schoolkids – I’m struggling a little with what you are implying with the “shindig” the charter schools association held. I stopped by that day for a viewing and would not qualify it as a “shindig.” It was a small room with a few rows of chairs, a short documentary on the wall, and some Coke and cookies. Please explain.
CharterStarter, Too
February 24th, 2012
2:37 pm
@ Statesboro Teacher – I understand your frustration. I really do – I worked in traditional public education for years before I discovered charters.
You ask why your system can’t have the same flexibility. That’s a pretty common question. Did you know that your school system has ALWAYS had the ability to request waivers on class size, etc.? Do you know that they could, at any time, have converted their system to charters and exercised waivers? Do you know that they COULD have allowed local autonomy at the school level. But they didn’t.
CCAT operated for years on ONLY state funds – that’s half of what your district is operating on. Now riddle me this – CCAT has lower class sizes, serves a high population of at risk students, has 1/2 the money, its teachers are paid less than you guys (even with your furloughs and cuts) and is STILL succeeding (very high graduation rates and achievement scores). How can this happen?
There is a lot to say for local autonomy and exercising the opportunities you have in front of you. CCAT does both.
You’re frustrated, I get it. But I think your frustration is misplaced.
CharterStarter, Too
February 24th, 2012
2:49 pm
@ Statesboro Teacher – one more thing. Schools are funded on the number of students they serve. CCAT is funded ONLY for the 25 they earn. Your district earns the 32. Think about this…
To EARN 1 teacher, you have to have 23 FTE. So CCAT maximizes the cost of a teacher and earns a little more and can utilize the left overs however they see fit to meet their mission.
Your district earns 1.39 teachers (23/39). That’s not enough to fund another teacher to lower class size, but it gives the district a lot of extra dollars to move around to other places.
There is nothing wrong with this – it’s a numbers game districts (and charters) have to play to sustain because of the way QBE works. BUT, the difference is that CCAT’s priority has been lower class sizes and the district has chosen other priorities. Again, this is not wrong per se, just the facts.
Big Bill
February 26th, 2012
4:52 pm
Respectfully, your conclusion that the “battle…is defined either as a victory for parental choice or an attack on local control…” fails to address what I and many others believe is really going on here, namely that HR 1162 is merely the local manifestation of a nationwide, carefully coordinated and well funded effort by very wealthy, extreme right-wing, Republican individuals, families, corporations, and foundations they control to mount an assault on the revered American concept (and long-standing public policy) of affording free, universal, public education for all of our citizens. These individuals, many of whom are billionaires, have created and funded (many using their family foundations to do so) non-profit education and other “family focused” groups which seemingly purport to advance laudable educational goals which no one could find objectionable but in fact are fronts for stealth political schemes to undermine, if not eliminate, public schools as they exist today. You will find them heavily involved in promoting charter schools, parental choice, school vouchers, for- profit schools, and home-schooling initiatives. I submit that they are in fact pushing radical, extreme right- wing ideologies in the guise of seemingly reasonable “school reform” initiatives like HR 1162. Their real goal is the privatization of the public education system as it exists in our country and around the world. Doesn’t Neal Boortz rail against “government schools? These people are conniving to eliminate them.
We should all at least look for evidence that this might be happening here in Georgia with HR 1162. One place to start would be to focus on one of the seemingly innocuous, non-profit education organizations, the American Federation for Children. This organization is listed as a supporter of the pro-HR 1162 group, Brighter Georgia Education Foundation. American Federation for Children is run by prominent wealthy Republican fundraiser and part-time Atlantan Betsy Devos. Her husband Dick Devos is the son of the co-founder of Amway. This husband and wife team are big supporters of “educational reform.” However, you really need to Google “Dick and Betsy Devos – public school education.” You will find articles such as these: “REPORT: Meet the Billionaires Who Are Trying to Privatize Our Schools.” May 21, 2011 by Zaid Jilani, ThinkProgress web site. “Daily Koss: Report Exposes Devos Plot to Destroy Public Education.” April 21, 2011.
Another right-wing Atlanta group heavily involved in supporting HR 1162, Georgia Family Council run by Randy Hicks, was I believe instrumental in putting together this Brighter Georgia Education Foundation which defines itself as a “neutral” non-profit. Neutral, maybe, but I doubt it. For one thing, you should Google “grants – MediaMatters Action Network – Dick and Betsy Devos Foundation Grant to Georgia Family Education and Research Council” which reports that in 2007 or 2008 the Dick and Betsy Devos Foundation made a $10,000.00 donation to this group which, I believe, is the same as, or affiliated with, the Georgia Family Council. Did the Georgia Family Council (funded in part by the Dick and Betsy Devos Foundation) create the Brighter Georgia Education Foundation a prominent supporter/member of which also happens to be Betsy Devos’s American Federation for Children?
Additional articles worth googling: “Exposing the Well Funded Campaign to Destroy Public Education.” May 7, 2011; “The ultimate pyramid scheme: trickle down education.” May 9, 2011; “The Right Wing Plot to Destroy Public Schools in PA.” May 23, 2011; “Schools Matter: Betsy Devos in the Running for the Billionaire’s Boys…” May 26, 2011; “These looney billionaires want to destroy public education.” April 23, 2011; “A Leaflet Defending Public Education Against the Unholy Alliance of…” November 8, 2011.
HR 1162 is not really a locally supported, grass roots initiative. It is the product of a nationwide effort by wealthy right-wing extremists to undermine public education in pursuit of their “looney” ideologies.