State school chief explains his endorsement of voucher proponent
Regarding my post a few minutes ago, the state Department of Education has now sent me state School Superintendent John Barge’s explanation for his endorsement of state Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, a leading voucher proponent in the Georgia General Assembly.
Rogers is facing fellow Republican Brandon Beach next week in a primary for his north Fulton/Cherokee seat.
Here is a letter that Barge sent out explaining his decision to back Rogers in this GOP primary race:
Dear Superintendents:
I have been contacted today by several friends expressing some concern over my endorsement of Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers in his current primary and some statements Senator Rogers attributed to me.
Please allow me to set the record straight.
Chip was one of the first Republican elected officials to endorse my candidacy for Superintendent. We agree on many conservative issues. One issue we disagree on is vouchers for education.
Unfortunately, it appears that his website erroneously reported that I support “market-based reform,” which sounds like a more palatable way of saying vouchers. This was an unintentional error that he will correct very shortly. I have very clearly stated my opposition to Senator Rogers regarding vouchers.
Reasonable people can disagree on important issues and still see the importance of working together for the greater good. And while I know the cuts to public education over the past several years are crippling to many of you, I maintain hope that, should the Senate Majority Leader win his bid for re-election, we can work together to begin to restore some funding to your struggling systems.
Our students, educators, and all who are involved in our public education system can rest assured that they have a tireless champion and advocate as their State Superintendent of Schools. I will continue, as I always have, to oppose any and all voucher programs that I believe undermine the strength of our public education system.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Barge
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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140 comments Add your comment
Holly Jones
July 28th, 2012
11:24 am
@Hey Teacher 10:41 am- I agree. I believe that local school board races should be non-partisan as well. Education isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s been cast that way by both sides, but much like the pitting of traditional public school supporters against charter school advocates, the “war” is a diversion so we don’t follow the money trail and see that none of these elected officials is interested in improving anything other than their cash flow.
Our local BOE race was hijacked by our legislative delegation under the guise of reapportionment and 2 members were removed from the board without we, the people, voting on it. Now we have folks calling one candidate a Planned Parenthood advocate- as if that has one thing to do with being on a school board and as if that makes her Satan’s handmaiden. But, because they have to declare a party, and Lord knows no Dem would get elected to be dog catcher here, they are all GOP, thus have to adhere blindly to all the GOP platform regardless of its connection-or not- to education. Make the races non-partisan and let’s get party politics out of the mix so we can start talking about how to make ALL schools good for ALL kids, not just a select few.
John Konop
July 28th, 2012
11:35 am
Both sides on this debate take more time talking past each other than dealing with the core issue. Like most issues this is not black and white it is grey. The establishment behind public schools has made the problem worse with poorly thought out policy like No Child Left Behind and anti tracking students based on aptitude. Meanwhile the other side has been just as short sided with policies that allow the private sector to take tax payer money from schools with tax payers taking the higher end of the risk. And no doubt some on this sides real agenda is to end public schools without thinking through the consequences.
Finally the public schools have been slow to embrace concepts like home school/ public school option, vo tech options, co-op/intern style education…………
We can reform the schools if both sides put down their agenda and we work together. The frustrating part is the debate has centered around a turf war rather than real solutions. Btw I have made this point many times to both sides in my community, which is Cherokee county.
Finally in my community when I talk actual policy in many cases both sides agree. Yet that is drowned out by both sides…… Read the comments on this thread, how much is it about policy and how much is it about attacking the other side?
As I said Maureen and I have had spirited debates about issues ie math123. Yet it was always about the issue nothing personal. And even when we disagree, she has made valid points. We must as a community not only have spitied debate, but we must listen to all sides ie most things are grey.
Google "NEA" and "donations"
July 28th, 2012
11:40 am
@Holly: Non-partisan elections sound great but don’t exist. Teachers’ union money finds its way even into Republican primaries—where they fund and talk up the least conservative candidates, and then abandon them anyway in favor of the Democrat in November.
The NEA also funds no small number of impostors claiming to be Republican or conservative.
Google "NEA" and "donations"
July 28th, 2012
11:57 am
@John Konop: Yes, clearly the two sides on the issue of parental choice will never agree. So why not let parents choose the side they have confidence in? Those parents who prefer traditional public schools will freely choose them; those parents who prefer charter or private schools will have that option.
And education money will follow kids to the chosen schools. Each school year will therefore provide every school with a “public assessment” similar to what our elected officials receive at election time.
It’s worked for America for over 200 years.
Holly Jones
July 28th, 2012
11:57 am
@ Google- no abandonment issues here in Cherokee- we rarely have Democrats on the ballot come November. party money may make its way into a non-partisan race, but at least candidates wouldn’t be hog-tied to the party platform, unless they take the money. As it stands now, they are shackled to it whether they want to be or not, whether it applies to what they are running for or not.
Holly Jones
July 28th, 2012
12:01 pm
@Google-”a “public assessment” similar to what our elected officials receive at election time. It’s worked for America for over 200 years.”- LOL! I think you are using the term “worked” very loosely. It’s worked for the special interests who have deep pockets, but I would argue that the “public assessment” isn’t performed by the actual constituents.
P.S. 2012
July 28th, 2012
12:30 pm
The use of the term “Choice” is radical conservative speak for draining the public coffers to benefit the few at the expense of the many.
State school chief endorses private school voucher proponent | Get Schooled
July 28th, 2012
12:31 pm
[...] endorsed Rogers and received a single word reply: “Yes.” However, a few minutes later, DOE sent me this statement from Barge explaining his [...]
Google "NEA" and "donations"
July 28th, 2012
12:36 pm
@Holly: Sounds as though you could use a change of nationality if America no longer suits you. France, maybe? Greece? North Korea?
See how much your cynicism gets you in any of those places. If they even let you in.
Approximately one and a half million new immigrants show up here each year because they believe we offer something no other country does (along with the world’s laxest immigration laws, key portions of which have been set aside by Obama). Plus more greater choices.
They’re voting with their feet. I propose we let the education issue be settled similarly.
Ron F.
July 28th, 2012
12:39 pm
John: That policy debate, even when most attempt to participate fairly, seems to always be hijacked by the few on the polar ends of politics. No matter if you agree with some of what they say, if you dare to challenge anything you’re accused of all manner of foolishness. But I suppose that is part of the process of examining and changing. Embracing differences is seldom easy, but I have found that weeding through all the nonsense on both sides does give you something to think about that helps move the discussion forward. While I’m not a big fan of the “choice” movement, I see why it exists and how it might be the only way to change systems like APS and Dekalb, where the establishment has severely impaired growth and change. Charter schools and more parental choice are absolutely needed in those systems. But that alone will not solve the managerial messes they have. It will take time and patient hard work, and those qualities are far from popular right now. How all of this will impact the rest of the state, where schools and systems are working well, is what concerns me. As I watch how state legislators are inserting themselves in Cherokee county, I wonder how many groups of legislators may adopt similar tactics to gain more control in local issues, thus impeding the intelligent debate further.
Maureen Downey
July 28th, 2012
12:40 pm
TO all:
Staff writer Nancy Badertscher is working on a story that involves students taking longer than four years to graduate from high school. She’d like to talk to students/ and or parents who experienced this situation to help shed light on the hardships, challenges that put students in this spot. If you can help and would be willing to be quoted, please contact her at nbadertscher@ajc.com.
Holly Jones
July 28th, 2012
12:47 pm
@Google- I never said America didn’t suit me, but the American political process is as broken as some see the public schools. Typical knee-jerk reaction- I must be a closet socialist if I dare take issue with American execptionalism. No, I am not threatening to move to Canada or France (although I do enjoy their food and wine). I am simply pointing out what everyone already knows- the “common man” has very little voice in the political arena. Politicians pay attention to those who fund them, not their constituents. And, I’ll even go so far as to say that the same happens in England, France, Canada, and all the other bastions of socialism that have free elections just like we do.
Bertis Downs
July 28th, 2012
12:47 pm
@HollyJones, Mary Elizabeth and John Konop and anyone else still reading:
http://static.onlineathens.com/adhub/1001314704.html
http://www.empoweredga.org/cherokee
there about 188 other Georgia school districts those ads would have applied in as well
We might all be partisan on some things, but surely we all have to work toward good schools for ALL children in Georgia.
See also: http://wapo.st/MLGUtR
As Winston Churchill once said: “There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” In GA, with regard to public education, we have a lot of work to do to get us to good schools for all kids. Work to do, plenty. But the way of Chip and Jan and the $10k a plate donors to the Charter-palooza Bone’s dinner next week ain’t “the right direction.”
Bertis Downs
July 28th, 2012
12:48 pm
@HollyJones, Mary Elizabeth and John Konop and anyone else still reading:
http://static.onlineathens.com/adhub/1001314704.html
http://www.empoweredga.org/cherokee
there about 188 other Georgia school districts those ads would have applied in as well
We might all be partisan on some things, but surely we all have to work toward good schools for ALL children in Georgia.
See also: http://wapo.st/MLGUtR
As Winston Churchill once said: “There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” In GA, with regard to public education, we have a lot of work to do to get us to good schools for all kids. Work to do, plenty. But the way of Chip and Jan and the $10k sponsorship donors to the Charter-palooza Bone’s dinner next week ain’t “the right direction.”
John Konop
July 28th, 2012
12:51 pm
NEA,
It is not that simple. We must first think through the operational as well as lability issues to tax payers. My main objection to math123, is the lack of basic qc protacal was not followed when looking at the plan ie transfer in and out, aptitude issues……..
In looking at your suggestion we hav multiple issues that must be thought out.
1) over 90 percent of students attend public schools, your idea could creat a logistics nightmare via the movement of students via planning and budgets
2) unless we have stricter financial rules on the schools taking the public funds the private/charter schools could take the money go out of business and leave tax payers holding the bad with massive transfer of students back into the system without proper time to deal with issue. Also this could lead to massive stealing of public funds. A private company could use tihis as a real-estate investment deal with no real downside if not done right. They use public money to get a good land deal, school fail they sell the real-estate tax payers left with massive student transfer issue private company has very little downside. Also private company bills for management fee schools goes under no downside.
3)The cost of a good private school is about 50 to 75 percent more than the money that would follow the student. This would further creat a two tier education system for rich and poor. The father of the free market system Adam Smith advocated for public schools to fight a two tier system which eventually overtime will hurt the economy.
4) The cost of educating special needs students is way more. And currently about 11 percent of most school districts have special needs students. Unless we came up with a solution to deal with this delima we would bankrupt the public schools and creat a logistics nightmare if we used your idea.
Above are just a few issues I have brought up and I am sure they are many more. My wife and I have used private schools and public schools with both of our kids. Private,public,charter and home school can work together and help a community. But it must be properly cordinated. In business you learn it is more about how will you execute an idea than the actual idea.
John Konop
July 28th, 2012
12:54 pm
Ron,
I agree with you great comment all should read!
John Konop
July 28th, 2012
12:56 pm
Btw sorry about the typos…..
Bertis Downs
July 28th, 2012
12:58 pm
sorry for the sorta double post– I was trying to clarify that maybe the “plates” at the big Bone’s dinner don’t cost $10k– they are cheaper than that but there seem to be opportunities for “sponsors” at that level–
here’s the fuller scoop from Jim Galloway: http://bit.ly/LP1mUM
Mikey D.
July 28th, 2012
1:08 pm
Isn’t it funny how whenever “Jane W” is challenged, s/he disappears and “Google NEA…” mysteriously shows up and posts the same arguments almost verbatim? Hmmm…
mommamonster
July 28th, 2012
5:30 pm
Hey guys! This might explain our girl Jane and her ilk…
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/michelle-rhee-fluffs-her-astroturf-gift-car
Apparently, Michelle Rhee is giving away gift cards and all you have to do to enter the drawing is parrott her CRAZY ideas as much as possible…diabolical!
mommamonster
July 28th, 2012
5:37 pm
*parrot
Teacher2
July 28th, 2012
7:23 pm
So, the guy who should be the biggest promoter of public education is endorsing the guy who is the biggest threat to public education? Unbelievable!
Dr. Monica Henson
July 28th, 2012
8:39 pm
Maureen is on the money when she posts, “If you think Georgia teachers have unions, then you have no idea what a union is or what it can do. Spend a month in a true union state and then talk to me.”
I started my education career in Georgia and spent ten years in Massachusetts and Connecticut, both union states, before returning South. The manner of doing the business of schooling there is drastically different than it is in Georgia. However, it is true that teacher associations in non-union states like Georgia and North Carolina, where I have also worked, are affiliated with the NEA and contribute to its mission.
Camille
July 28th, 2012
8:49 pm
CHUCK-
PLEASE RUN FOR OFFICE! I am a public school teacher and my children go to a private school for a Christian education. I do NOT want vouchers because I do NOT want the government interfering in my children’s private education. PREACH ON!
Dr. Monica Henson
July 28th, 2012
9:01 pm
I don’t get the charge that pops up periodically on this blog that Maureen is promoting one viewpoint or approach over another. I am a career public school administrator who has worked in district and charter schools, in charters operated by both nonprofit and for-profit education service providers. I think that Maureen has been quite objective in her presentation of the issues.
Incidentally, in the nonprofit world, it’s called “surplus,” while in the for-profit world, it’s known as “margin.” A favorite saying among my colleagues in the for-profit world is “No margin, no mission.” Schools and governments do business with for-profit companies all the time, most notably textbook publishers and technology vendors. For-profit companies who manage charter schools do so on a contract basis, as a charter is nothing more than a government contract. If they don’t fulfill the goals of the charter, or if they mismanage funds, it comes to light pretty quickly, and the school can be closed.
I administer a Georgia state-chartered virtual high school that opened July 1. Like all Georgia charter schools, it is “owned” by a nonprofit corporation and overseen by a board of directors. Unlike most Georgia charter schools, we will operate statewide, essentially serving as a Georgia virtual district that runs on state and federal dollars only. My job can be most closely compared to a district superintendent position, as a result.
Our board hired a for-profit education service provider to assist in the operation of the school enterprise. This contract has enabled me, as the executive director and employee of the nonprofit board, to contract out the work of human resources support, professional development, and other functions that in a district would be performed by a team of salaried central office administrators with full benefits at a much lower fee than the salary and benefits package would cost our board. I can run the school with two assistant administrators, one who serves as the school’s chief financial officer and the other as director of instruction, essentially a principal who directly supervises our teachers and advisors (advisors are like a combination of guidance counselors and graduation coaches, and several of them are also licensed clinical social workers).
We have eliminated the “bloated central office” that so many people on this blog decry. We couldn’t have done that without the contract work that our education services provider does for us. If they don’t do an effective job, we have the option of canceling their contract and either hiring another provider or hiring our own staff and doing it ourselves. We also purchased their learning management system, which includes online textbooks for every course, removing the expensive boondoggle that is the American public high school hardback textbook from our budget.
By taking advantage of the economy scale that our education service provider has created with its national network of trainers and regional administrative support staff, we have been able to hire an amazing faculty of experienced teachers (none has less than ten years) who hold tremendous credentials, along with advisors who would be the envy of any high school guidance department. My teachers and advisors could work in any top high school in Georgia, public or private. We will provide our students with an outstanding curriculum and our staff with excellent professional development. We will do this in a financially responsible manner and fulfill our obligation to the taxpayers who provide our funding or forfeit our very existence if we don’t. You can follow our academic progress on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement annual report card, and via the GaDOE accountability reports starting in 2013, when we complete our first year of operation. We will contribute to the bottom line of our for-profit education service provider without apologies for it, just as school districts contribute to the profits of textbook publishers and custodial uniform manufacturers, among others, and we will count it as money very well spent.
Basically, we will be doing what any public school district in the United States is obligated to do. We’ll be doing it in a much more streamlined and transparent fashion. And if we don’t get the results we have promised to the taxpayers, then we will be closed at the conclusion of the term of our charter.
Ed Johnson
July 28th, 2012
10:53 pm
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5529026/Bedfellows
John Konop
July 29th, 2012
7:56 am
Dr. Henson,
In fairness I do think you could embrace some reforms which would improve education and save money.
1)We could elimante gym class requirements for students in high school who play a school sport
2) We could have administrators teach 1 class which would make them better managers as well as lower cost
3) We could eliminate via waivers some of the mandatory end of year testing that would save money. The countries with the best education test way less than us.
4) We could transform the system into a aptitude based education system that promotes internships and paid co-ops. That would lower the drop- out rate and creat students with real skills for work after graduation as well as prepare college bound students with real work experience.
5) We could create a home/school public school option and allow students access to extra curricular activities. This would help with flexibility for internships/co-ops as well as bring the home school parents into the system instead of fighting them.
6) We could creat partneships to use the high schools for job training and or college classes at night. Not only would this save on building cost, we would increase community support for schools.
I respect what you do, but we must think out of the box, especially in this economy.
teacher&mom
July 29th, 2012
8:03 am
@Dr.Henson:
How does your charter school differ from what is already being provided by GA Virtual?
My district spends approximately $3800/student.(Special education students are higher) This includes transportation costs. Granted you are operating with fewer administrative costs, but someone is paying for those “for-profit” vendors. How much will your charter spend per student?
GCAE President
July 29th, 2012
11:10 am
Thank you Maureen for trying to educate about “unions”. Georgia is a right to work state. We do not have unions, we do not have collective bargaining. As teachers, we have less rights than many in a traditional hourly job. We do have several teacher associations, one that is associated with the NEA. As a local president and still a fulltime math teacher, I can tell you that we spend a lot of time trying to educate the public about what we are about and what we do. Please allow me to suggest another thought on this subject.
Vouchers, charter schools, tax rebates or whatever other names you want to call it is a way of camoflauging what the Chip Rogers of this state want; doing away with local control, privatizing public education, and having for profit corporations running an education system with few if any checks and balances. They have cut our local QBE funding by over 1.1 billion dollars in the past 10 years. They have taken away the lottery funding for funding of whatever they want. And Chip Rogers is the treasurer of ALEC, the multi billion dollar SUPER PAC that is spending so much money for all of these elections.
Although I have the utmost respect for Dr. Barge and I do believe in keeping doors open and working together, at this point in time, that will not work. The Republican party has declared war on public education under the guise of choice. It is not choice. It is power they want to route money to get what they want. When you control the General Assembly and the Governor, you have control of the budget.
July 31 is the beginning when the people have a way of saying enough is enough. Do not vote for the incumbent just because. Ask the tough questions; Is this person interested in government of the people, by the people, and for the people? Protect our children and communities by voting.
Dr. Monica Henson
July 29th, 2012
12:57 pm
Mr. Konop, I agree wholeheartedly with the reforms you suggest. I worked for many years “inside” district public education, and the waste and rigidity of mindset is part of why I now work in the charter public schools. It is the presence of competition (from private schools, charters, and parochial schools) that is the ONLY thing, in my opinion, that will spur districts to start innovating in the way you describe. That’s part of the purpose of school choice: to raise all the boats.
My comments on your recommendations:
“1)We could elimante gym class requirements for students in high school who play a school sport.” I don’t know that it should be eliminated, but rather allow those students to count their sports participation as their gym requirement. In my virtual charter high school, we allow our students who play sports or take lessons in physical activities, such as gymnastics, to count those as their physical education requirement. No reason why a district school couldn’t do the same. It would remove the need for all the phys. ed. teachers, however, which upsets the adults who see the school system more as an employment agency for adutls than a place to educate students. A lot of coaches are also P.E. teachers–does a local BOE have the political will to eliminate a head football coach’s P.E. teaching position? Food for thought.
“2) We could have administrators teach 1 class which would make them better managers as well as lower cost.” I love this idea and actually have done this as a brick-and-mortar principal. I taught one period of at-risk students in freshman English in the fall, and one period of A.P. Language & Composition in the spring the last year that I was a school principal. I videotaped a lot of my at-risk students’ activities, such as Socratic seminars that we held once a week, and played them on a VCR in the corner of the library during the social time before faculty meetings. My teachers were amazed at the quality of the class discussions by kids who were driving many other teachers crazy. It gave me a springboard for introducing the concept of spending the time necessary to teach at-risk students the social skills to be able to engage in activities that ordinarily are reserved for honors and AP students. I taught the AP class because none of my English teachers was willing to teach it, and we had students who wanted it.
“3) We could eliminate via waivers some of the mandatory end of year testing that would save money. The countries with the best education test way less than us.” I don’t like the idea of overtesting kids, but I do feel that we need an objective way to ensure that the state standards are in fact being taught in all classrooms. EOCTs are the best way I know to do that. No one disputes that AP testing is a way to maintain quality control for Advanced Placement courses, and it gives a standard by which colleges & universities determine who earns college credits for those courses. I see EOCTs as fulfilling a similar function. Strong administrators need to spend a lot of time in classrooms watching instruction and checking up on teachers’ use of teacher-created assessments in order to eliminate constant benchmark testing, which I see as overtesting and destructive to teachers’ spirits and creativity, because it ties everyone to pacing schedules and prescribed curricula, rather than allowing accomplished teachers to take thematic approaches. Only the least capable and unproven teachers should have their instruction techniques, strategies, and pacing prescribed, and that should be overseen by master teachers if possible, rather than administrators.
“4) We could transform the system into a aptitude based education system that promotes internships and paid co-ops. That would lower the drop- out rate and creat students with real skills for work after graduation as well as prepare college bound students with real work experience.: That’s precisely what we will do in our Magic Johnson Bridgescape learning centers, which are adjunct brick-and-mortar places where high-risk kids in Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, & Savannah will be able to attend, along with drop-in students “in the cloud” within driving distance of the centers. In our partnership with Magic Johnson Enterprises, we will provide our kids with some real-world tools that help prepare them for employment and help them identify future careers, which may lead many of them to conclude that technical training and/or college is definitely needed to realize their dreams. We are hiring a full-time Community Outreach Manager who will, along with our partners in MJE, link employers in the areas where we put our Bridgescape centers with students who want internships, job shadowing, and co-ops. Eventually, we hope to have Bridgescape centers all over the state.
“5) We could create a home/school public school option and allow students access to extra curricular activities. This would help with flexibility for internships/co-ops as well as bring the home school parents into the system instead of fighting them.” Absolutely! I support Senate Bill 34, which would allow this to happen.
“6) We could creat partneships to use the high schools for job training and or college classes at night. Not only would this save on building cost, we would increase community support for schools.” A great idea. There is no good reason that I can think of for school buildings being deserted at 4 PM.
Dr. Monica Henson
July 29th, 2012
1:14 pm
teacher&mom asked: “How does your charter school differ from what is already being provided by GA Virtual?”
Families don’t have to pay for enrolling their kids in Provost Academy Georgia. We are a public high school. My understanding of the Georgia Virtual School is that districts must pay for the courses, or pass the cost of them along to families. GAVS allows students to select courses from a menu and supplement their home high school curriculum or use them for credit recovery. We do not offer courses “a la carte.”
PAGA’s curriculum is stem-focused–we offer 12 STEM electives in our eCourses, including Sports Medicine, introductions to four different types of engineering, and Java & HTML programming, for example.
My district spends approximately $3800/student.(Special education students are higher) This includes transportation costs. Granted you are operating with fewer administrative costs, but someone is paying for those “for-profit” vendors. How much will your charter spend per student?
We will draw the state allotment for our students, weighted by student for issues such as special education, along with federal categorical Title funds. Our average per pupil expenditure will be far less than any metropolitan school district, as we will not receive any local contribution per student. The annual fee we will pay our education service provider amounts to about the same that we would spend on salaries for three central office administrators if we were a metro district. In return, we will receive access to a bank of national training consultants (all former public school educators like me, who were very successful teachers and administrators themselves) to support our staff development, which my administrators and I are designing to support our school’s strategic plan; a regional controller to assist and support our finance officer; a grants department to assist us in identifying and applying for grant funds both public and private; complete human resources services and support; partnership support from Magic Johnson Enterprises and the Magic Johnson Foundation (25% of all of Mr. Johnson’s future foundation college scholarships are being set aside for Bridgescape graduates); and a full-time enrollment services center to assist us with recruitment and enrollment of students as we grow. We could never do all of this ourselves with the limited administrative staff we have. Hiring the number of administrators it would take to accomplish all of this would be far more expensive than hiring our education services provider. It’s a great deal for all concerned–and there will be intensive oversight of our program by the GaDOE Charter School Division, not a local BOE, as we are a state-chartered school.
teacher&mom
July 29th, 2012
1:26 pm
@Dr. Monica Henson: Thank you for the answers to my questions. However, I’m still unsure about how much it will cost to educate each student at Provost Academy. Given your reference to metro Atlanta districts, I’m assuming your cost will be higher than my rural district?
John Konop
July 29th, 2012
2:56 pm
I have a niece in Ohio who is in a home school charter school. She blossomed in that environment, the biggest factor is going at her own pace. She can focus on what she does not understand by repeating the lecture via on line or privately asking questions. Also she is not slowed down by classroom questions that slow down the learning process.
This type of education is definetly a solution for some students. And one mistake we can all agree the current one size fit all system ie no child left behind is a complete failure. And we do need more options not less for students based on many factors from how they learn to aptitude.
Please email me and I will send you a donation for your school. John@johnkonop.com
Dr. Monica Henson
July 29th, 2012
5:48 pm
teacher&mom, I haven’t answered your question about per student funding yet because the site allotment for PAGA hasn’t been posted yet on the GaDOE allotment sheets. I anticipate that we will draw down substantially less than an average $3,800 per student. We don’t yet know how many special education, English Language Learner, and other students that will earn more weighted funding.
Dr. Monica Henson
July 29th, 2012
5:50 pm
Thank you, Mr. Konop! Traditional district public schools work for a lot of kids, but not for all of them. I am excited to be providing one choice in what I believe should become a menu of options for families to choose from, based on the needs and interests of their kids.
teacher&mom
July 29th, 2012
6:06 pm
@Dr. Monica Henson: Perhaps you can write an Op-Ed after your final budget numbers and test scores come in? Please keep us posted on your progress.
Dr. Monica Henson
July 29th, 2012
9:42 pm
Thanks, teacher&mom. I would love to do that–hope Maureen is watching.
Actually, I wouldn’t mind “diarying” on a regular basis the progress of our first school year…
Mary Elizabeth
July 29th, 2012
9:46 pm
GCAE President, 11:10 am
I agree with your comments. Thank you for posting them.
Barge breaks ranks and mold with his opposition to GOP-backed charter school amendment | Get Schooled
August 14th, 2012
11:12 am
[...] this is big news as state Schools Superintendent John Barge has been a loyal GOP party member, even endorsing Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, who is one of the chief critics of public education in the Georgia [...]
Deal Statement On Barge Charter Flip Flop — Peach Pundit
August 15th, 2012
8:30 am
[...] has received criticism, especially from a number of local school Superintendents over his endorsement of Sen. Chip Rogers. I suspect his charter amendment flip flop is an attempt [...]