Most pro charter amendment money coming from outside Georgia. Most against from state educators. Does either worry you?
The AJC has been following the money in the high-powered, high-profile campaign for the charter school amendment, which would give the state the power to overrule local school boards and approve and fund charter schools. Presumably, that would lead to more charter schools in Georgia. Voters will decide the question on Nov. 6.
The AJC reports:
Groups backing the charter schools constitutional amendment have again pulled in far more money than amendment opponents, the most recent campaign filing statements show. Families for Better Public Schools, which supports the amendment, raised $1.28 million during the filing period that ends 15 days before the election. Families’ haul was 70 times more than the $18,164 the main opposition group, Vote Smart! No to State-Controlled Schools, raised during the same period.
A second amendment supporter, Georgia Public School Families for Amendment One, raised $55,000. Despite the group’s name, all of its money came from a single donation made by PublicSchoolOptions.org of Arlington, Va.
Indeed, most of the money that has gone to amendment supporters came from outside Georgia. Families for Better Public Schools’ filing, for example, shows that 71 percent of the money raised during this filing period came from outside sources.
As she did earlier in the campaign, Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton of Arkansas contributed another $350,000. J.C. Huizenga of Grand Rapids, Mich., gave $250,000. Students First of Sacramento, Calif., also gave $250,000.
“Wow, ” said Jane Langley, campaign manager for the Vote Smart opposition group. “This gives new meaning to ‘families.’ Those out-of-state corporations, more than two out of every three contributions, must badly want to change permanently our constitution.”
Many traditional public school officials — superintendents, board members and teachers — have opposed the amendment, arguing that it would lead to the creation of more charter schools that would sap money from traditional public schools. Supporters argue that passing the amendment would protect from legal challenge the state’s ability to authorize charter schools, which are public schools that are granted flexibility as they pursue specific education goals spelled out in their charter.
Traditional education officials and those tied to school systems dotted the Vote Smart contribution list. Jeanne “Sis” Henry, executive director of the Georgia School Boards Association, gave $3,000. Victoria Sweeney, an attorney who represents the Gwinnett County Public School District, donated $1,000.
Families for Better Public Schools collected $250,000 from Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus and $100,000 from Richard Gaby, chief executive officer of Peter Island Resort and Spa. Real estate developer Tom Cousins gave $20,000.
My AJC colleagues Jay Bookman and Kyle Wingfield each followed the money pouring into the charter school amendment and ended up in a different place.
Bookman wrote:
Reading the list of out-of-state contributors to the campaign to pass Amendment 1, the state charter-schools amendment, you get the sense that an old-fashioned gold rush would begin in Georgia the moment the amendment is approved.
J.C. Huizenga, founder of Michigan-based National Heritage Academies, a for-profit charter school operator, has contributed $25,000; his company contributed a matching $25,000. Charter Schools USA, based in Florida, contributed $50,000 as well. D.A. Davidson, a financial services firm based in Great Falls, Mont., that touts itself as “a recognized leader in charter school financing, ” has so far given $5,000. And K12 Inc., a for-profit provider of online classes and “full-time online public schools, ” has kicked in $100,000.
Those account only for contributions made through Sept. 21; the final campaign-disclosure reports may include additional big-dollar donations from companies eager to enter Georgia’s public-school marketplace. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong about for-profit companies operating in the education sector. However, despite the fervor of those who preach that competition solves all problems, there’s nothing inherently good about it, either. No countries that outperform the United States in education, for example, do so through the for-profit model.
In addition, the overall shoddy performance of for-profit colleges and universities here in the U.S. provides stark evidence that when the profit motive conflicts with academic standards, profit takes precedence…There’s every reason to worry that similar dynamics will play out in k-12 education. Take K12 Inc., the company that has so far contributed $100,000 to opening up the Georgia market. In Florida, where the company operates in 43 school districts, a typical K12 high school teacher may have as many as 275 online students per class, which enhances profitability if not education. Last month, Florida officials launched an investigation into charges that K12 also uses teachers uncertified for the classes they teach and that company officials asked employees to cover up that fact.
Looking at the same list of donors, Wingfield had a far different response:
After its latest report, filed Tuesday, the anti-amendment group Vote SMART! had a donor base comprising 146 people and eight companies that had given a combined $104,263 (along with almost $19,000 in gifts not itemized). Who are they?
Thirty-four of them are current or former superintendents. That group gave more than $16,000. Another 30 are other types of school-system administrators: area superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of some kind or another. These folks contributed an additional $14,000.
Eleven members of various school boards around Georgia gave almost $4,000. Ten principals shelled out $2,576. In all, almost 60 percent of the Vote SMART! donors and more than a third of its donations came from people who run our traditional public schools. That’s one bit of turf. Then there are the professional organizations: the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, Georgia School Boards Association and Georgia School Superintendents Association. Fifteen employees of these groups donated more than $15,000.
Now let’s look at companies that do business with school systems… In fact, 35 people or firms who do business with traditional public schools, from attorneys and consultants to architects and contractors, have given more than $32,000 to the anti-amendment campaign. Now, am I missing any job description in the education field? Hmmm, let’s see …
From what we can see, though, almost 90 percent of the donors and $4 of every $5 donated come from the people running our schools and the firms they do business with. It’s a campaign of the educational establishment, by the educational establishment, for the educational establishment.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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226 comments Add your comment
Beverly Fraud
October 28th, 2012
3:55 pm
“.I would think educators would be in favor of more charter schools so that class sizes can start to come down”
Actually @GaGa they would NOT come down. They would just cut teachers. Why. To keep central office numbers INTACT. But that is EXACTLY the type of mindset that is leading the educational monolith down the road that even Somali pirates look like a welcome addition to the party.
Get Educated
October 28th, 2012
3:59 pm
Like the for profit charter company in FL being investigated because their teachers were told to falsify their records? Turns out they had 275 students per teacher. Did I mention this same company is helping fund vote yes? Shady, shady business except for a chosen few.
And those TV and radio ads with the girl in the Ivy Prep uniform? Ivy Prep did worse on every metric compared to the public schools in Gwinnett. But education isn’t what this is about anyway. Scary, permanently changing our Constituion for these folks.
indigo
October 28th, 2012
4:43 pm
ChartersStarters Too – 2:42
There is so much ignorance in that rant I hardly know where to start.
1. I only have one screen name.
2. The whole idea of Charters is schools that DON’T teach all of the state’s curriculum.
3. How is it you’re so naive as to think that lobbying the legislature would do any good? Don’t you know they are bought and paid for by Big Business?
4. What you call “paranoia” is actually fact.
5. The only “ignorant and grossly uninformed argument” here is yours.
Note
October 28th, 2012
4:53 pm
Locally approved charters are in a completely different class than what potentially is coming if this bill is approved.
According to Ed Setzler at a recent public forum:
Any curriculum can be taught, no need to follow common core. Any teacher will do, no need to be certified. Five years to “prove” the charter school is on the up and up with no oversight. Anyone worried about five years without oversight? And this is going to lead to more competition for public schools?
In the meantime with the dollar drain, there goes magnet programs, gifted programs, p.e., music and art programs, and busing. No need to make suppositions, just look at what has happened in Florida since they approved these charter schools run by for profit by out of state companies.
This educator is concerned about what will happen to students who have five years of unsupervised education, where teachers are not evaluated or certified, standards not followed, and any curricula is allowed.
And in the public forum, Mr. Setzler was unable to answer why the huge push of funds to pass this bill is from out of state donations. Nor was he able to answer why the current method to appeal denial of a charter through the DOE is inadequate.
Former Ivy Dad, current Chamblee Magnet Dad
October 28th, 2012
4:58 pm
I’m up to five yes votes now!
Hey Teacher
October 28th, 2012
5:17 pm
I voted no already. The wording alone is frightening and not the venue for change. We are trying to solve the problems of the likes of APS and Dekalb on the backs of the rest of us who work and send our children to functional systems. This amendment is NOT good for the state (but I’m sure it is good for one of Deal’s cronies).
@Catlady — amen!
Charles Douglas Edwards
October 28th, 2012
5:32 pm
We urge voters not to be deceived by the new advertisements by charter schools advocates !!!
Charter schools will not be good for the majority of our students in the long run. We need to focus our attention, resources and funds on the public education of the masses of our students.
The new pro charter ads featuring black students is misleading and deceitful because the majority of future charter schools will be designed to re-segregate our schools.
We hope and pray that Georgia voters will defeat this amendment.
Hillbilly D
October 28th, 2012
5:36 pm
Does either worry you?
Why worry about something I can’t do anything about? I can vote on the amendment and that’s about it. I can’t control the money game.
DeKalbParent
October 28th, 2012
5:41 pm
Our DeKalb schools have been segregated for years. Read this: http://savannahnow.com/column/2012-10-26/nielsen-charter-school-amendment-fights-status-quo#.UI2mSMXqmkM for more insught.
Vote YES!
living in an outdated ed system
October 28th, 2012
5:46 pm
Doesn’t worry me the least. Many folks inside Georgia just don’t understand why we need this amendment to pass, so I am not surprised that the rest of the nation is helping us to see the light.
COA Parent
October 28th, 2012
6:01 pm
Both concern me. While I don’t support the amendment, I do support charter schools. Every county needs more options so that children can learn in an environment that is best for them. However, I believe that this should happen on a local level and that more parents need to be involved in what is going on in their local school district and on the school boards. Everyone sits around and complains but few get involved. Why is it so easy to sit and wait for someone else to fix the problem? I think schools and the government for that matter, would function better and be more transparent, if everyone was involved and hold elected officials accountable for what they are or are not doing. Giving parents a choice is a great thing. However, giving the state the power to say what that choice should be is a bad idea! The amendment was written to entice people to vote yes for choice but to have someone who does not know the neighborhood come in and tell me what if any choice I should have does not work for me. Give me the choice on a local level to do what I think is right for my community!
I hope everyone votes NO to this amendment!
Sandy Springs Parent
October 28th, 2012
6:06 pm
What should have been the amendment to give true local conrol would be to get rid of the arbitrary set number of school districts in Georgia. While this may have been written to prevent the small rural counties from dropping having a school district. After the white students fled to private schools with segregations. It has been a horror show for the metro area will 50,000 to 100,000 student districts. The best performing districts in the country are small districts that have no more than 1-2 high schools and their feeder schools. Small districts that have local control by locally elected boards that serve for free with Superintents who make $150K a year. Superintents who are not on the 3 year tour the country and pad my resume make 250K -300K yr.. destroy a district while getting all my family and friends high paying jobs. For this high paying job opportunity these traveling Supt. are indebted to the Boards and find their family and friends jobs as well. With small school districts, their are simply no layers of administration to hid all of these useless folks.
I will vote NO!
Come back with this Amendment and Come back with an Amendment for real Vouchers at least $8,000 + COLA’s annually for every student. I also want the money you get for my kid being gifted and having ADHD. Then this Liberal will vote yes, because those vouchers are the only ones that will truely offer competiiton. Or just let me bring the bill from private school after I have given public school a go for I year. Sorry 36 students in 7th grade makes it impossible to learn, when at the Catholic School they have 32 kids in two classes. A bit easier to learn with 16 and discipline will occur. I just can’t afford it when Georgia doesn’t make a Father pay for Private School in a divorce.
concerned
October 28th, 2012
6:23 pm
To all of you who complain of having to send your children to sub par public schools just because of your zip code…do you really think there will be a NEW Charter School built close enough for your children to attend? And even if there is, which I doubt, what if the school isn’t better? Then what will you do? Remember, Charter Schools do not have to hire certified teachers. They do not have to teach the same standards as public school. They will not be administering the same tests. How will this be better? You all think you will have a say in the NEW Charter Schools. Think again. You will not have any more input than you do now. You can already create Charter Schools. If you want one badly enough do what it takes to create one. Voting yes to Amendment 1 will NOT make things better for the chidren of Georgia. It will, however, make many people outside of Geogia very rich. Not every school district is like Dekalb or Atlanta City. There are GREAT schools and GREAT school systems in Georgia. Voting yes on Nov. 6 will hurt these great schools and systems. Change is great and needed but this is NOT the change that will make a difference for the better.
DeKalbParent
October 28th, 2012
6:35 pm
To the Educrats…..Many parents posting here have children in state authorized charter schools. Our kids are excelling and thriving. That’s why I voted YES.
Yes, to the Educrats desperately trying to hang on to your six figure salaries while graduating students that are qualified for minimum wage jobs….
Maybe you should stop posting on this forum and polish up your resumes…
Georgia and Education not compatible
October 28th, 2012
6:49 pm
To all of you who oppose the charter amendment…AMEN! If this amendment is passed then it will truly be “taxation without representation.” Thanks d.
Please don’t let the Powers that Be-fuddled hoodwink you into thinking that this amendment will make everything a little better…it won’t.
What if you have legitimate complaints about your new charter school? Who will you address? The people that work for the charter school won’t REALLY be accountable to you. Additionally, the only person that the charter committee will respond to is the “Gov-na.” Is that really okay with many you?
C’mon people THINK…
teacher&mom
October 28th, 2012
6:53 pm
I’m voting no.
I support charter schools and believe a locally approved charter school is the way to go. We have a system in place to approve charter schools.
I also follow what is happening in states that have opened the doors to charter schools. For example…just this week in Florida…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/10/26/charter-school-principal-gets-519453-payout-in-taxpayer-money/
teacher&mom
October 28th, 2012
6:56 pm
@DekalbParent: You are naive if you think charter school administrators do not earn 6 figure salaries.
DeKalbParent
October 28th, 2012
7:06 pm
Enlighten me….ours don’t. We receive considerably less funding than DCSS approved charter schools. And as for that matter, I wouldn’t be so upset with DeKalb salaries for Admin if they were “actually producing results” and doing something besides trying to cover up their financial ineptitude and avoiding answering parents directly during round table meetings. I am not opposed to rewarding success. Local school boards and administrators are rewarded for failure. In private industry, they would have been fired years ago and we wouldn’t be where we are now.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
October 28th, 2012
7:08 pm
@Behind Enemy liines “There really isn’t anything that could produce worse results with more money thrown down the drain than what we’ve been doing.”
So sure of that, are you?
From Huffington Post:
“An Orange County charter school that gave its principal a $519,000 departure payout was an academic failure that struggled to provide its students with basic materials and qualified teachers, an evaluation by the school district shows.
In 2011-12, NorthStar High School’s directors paid Principal Kelly Young more than twice as much money as they spent on the school’s educational program.
Including her annual salary, bonuses and payout, Young took home at least $824,000 in taxpayer money that year, not including payments she continues to receive for winding down the school’s operations.
By comparison, the school spent $366,042 on instruction, including teacher salaries, last school year, according to an audit paid for by the school.
…..
NorthStar’s lavish payment to their principal was not an isolated instance. In 2010-11, when Young’s contract called for $305,000 in pay, the school spent $372,009 on instruction. Her pay made up a third of the school’s budget that year.
The school lacked computers, a library or cafeteria services at its facility in concrete portables on Curry Ford Road. According to the January report by Orange County Public Schools, the school’s reading teacher was not certified in reading and NorthStar didn’t have someone certified to teach English language-learners.
Nearly three quarters of NorthStar’s students failed the state reading test, and half failed in math. But students who attended say it was the first school where they felt supported.
….
“You can’t be having these golden parachutes in any industry, especially one funded with taxpayer money,” said Legg, who added that he wants to see more transparency in reporting charter school salaries.
…
The school, which operated for 11 years, was never an academic standout. It’s last grade from the state was a D, but it was losing ground last year. “It wasn’t a good educational environment for students,” said Christopher Bernier, who oversees charter schools in Orange County. “They weren’t producing. They weren’t learning.”
….
A February letter signed by Young accused the district of denying the school’s request to be evaluated on a less rigorous standard because they served a struggling population, and of “being set up to fail.”
Full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/charter-school-spent-more_n_2021140.html?utm_hp_ref=education
Just the facts
October 28th, 2012
7:14 pm
It is in the interest of local school boards to not support charter schools. If you are ok with your local substandard school…if you are ok with your local school’s cheating scandal…if you are ok with your local school on the verge of losing accreditation …
You get what you deserve.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
7:17 pm
@ Catlady – but your superintendent hasn’t given up his pay OR his retirement through all of this.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
7:19 pm
@ Teacher&Mom – The average charter school leader salary $68,000 per year. You may have an outlier or two, but the majority are far less than their traditional school counterparts. And these charter leaders are MORE than just principals – they are also CEOs of non-profits. None of them are getting rich.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
7:21 pm
@ Teacher&Mom – do you not see how hypocritical your post is? You start out by saying you like charter schools, but as typically happens, you add that…BUT… and then say, to look what’s happened to states that opened their doors to charters.
Typical logic of the opposition. Fail.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
7:29 pm
@ Indigo –
ChartersStarters Too – 2:42
There is so much ignorance in that rant I hardly know where to start.
LOOKS LIKE YOU DID JUST FINE.
1. I only have one screen name.
OH MY LORD, ARE THERE MORE FOLKS LIKE YOU ROAMING AROUND SPOUTING PARANOIA?
2. The whole idea of Charters is schools that DON’T teach all of the state’s curriculum.
NO, DEAR. THEY MUST TEACH AS A BASIS AT LEAST THE STATE CURRICULUM BECAUSE THEY ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO THE SAME CRITERION REFERENCED COMPETENCY TESTS; HOWEVER, THEY MAY AUGMENT WITH ADDITIONAL, MORE RIGOROUS CURRICULUM AND EMPLOY DIFFERENT INSTRUCTIONAL METHODOLOGIES.
3. How is it you’re so naive as to think that lobbying the legislature would do any good? Don’t you know they are bought and paid for by Big Business?
BUT I THOUGHT YOU OPPONENTS BELIEVED IN ‘LOCAL CONTROL.” THOSE IN THE LEGISLATURE REPRESENT YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND YOU ELECTED THEM. ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU TRUST THE THE ELECTION PROCESS FOR THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD BUT YOU DON’T TRUST THE SAME PROCESS FOR THE LEGISLATURE? BIZARRE.
4. What you call “paranoia” is actually fact.
WELL…NOT IN ANY OF THE 70 CHARTERS I AM ACQUAINTED WITH. WHICH ONE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT AND HOW DO YOU QUALIFY IT AS “FACT?”
5. The only “ignorant and grossly uninformed argument” here is yours.
LOL. IS THAT THE GROWN UP EQUIVALENT OF CALLING ME A MEANIE HEAD?
teacher&mom
October 28th, 2012
7:29 pm
@DekalbParent: Google “charter school administration costs”
Here’s a study that was released in May that found charter school administration costs were actually higher than traditional schools.
http://www.ncspe.org/publications_files/OP201.pdf
10:10 am
October 28th, 2012
7:31 pm
As a fervent union-booster, Maureen, you’re of course happy to feed the myth that anti-charter money is coming from “state educators” rather than the teachers’ union bosses.
Readers can Google “NEA” and “donations” and learn that union cash is funneled into a great many causes which the average Georgia teacher might not support. No matter. Those belonging to GAE/NEA will in any case be funding these liberal-left causes through their dues without even knowing it.
d
October 28th, 2012
7:36 pm
I think the basic question comes down to this: Do we need amendment one to have quality charters in Georgia? The answer is, no. We have charters already. Will Amendment one help Georgia education. As before, the answer is no.
teacher&mom
October 28th, 2012
7:38 pm
@charterstarter, too:
I’ve worked at a charter school….a locally approved charter school.
I just happen to believe the current system for approving a charter is the right way.
There is nothing hypocritical about disagreeing with the creation of a state appointed board to approve charters.
emz
October 28th, 2012
7:39 pm
I support charter schools but money coming from out-of-state is disturbing. Those corporations and/or millionaires do not care about educating the children of Georgia, especially the low-income ones. Local control of schools is not always great but corporations being involved for money is not great at all.
jd
October 28th, 2012
7:45 pm
Hmmm— in state money coming from people whose children attend public schools, according to Kyle, is dirty money. But, money from individuals from out-of-state whose children attend private schools is money well spent for altruistic reasons? Yeah right…
d
October 28th, 2012
7:49 pm
Teacher Union Bosses….. That’s funny. I’ve met Dennis Van Roekel and Lily Esckelson personally. Dennis is a math teacher from Arizona and Lily worked in a school cafeteria to pay her way through college to become a 4th grade teacher in Utah. I even had the pleasure of sitting in a room with Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teacher’s Union…. She teaches chemistry up there. Remember, a union is a group of people united (notice the similarity in the words) for a common cause. Teachers’ unions and teachers cannot be separated because they are one in the same.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
October 28th, 2012
8:19 pm
@Charter Starter, Too “And these charter leaders are MORE than just principals – they are also CEOs of non-profits. None of them are getting rich.”
Ahem. I repeat…from the Huffington Post
“An Orange County charter school that gave its principal a $519,000 departure payout was an academic failure that struggled to provide its students with basic materials and qualified teachers, an evaluation by the school district shows.
In 2011-12, NorthStar High School’s directors paid Principal Kelly Young more than twice as much money as they spent on the school’s educational program.
Including her annual salary, bonuses and payout, Young took home at least $824,000 in taxpayer money that year, not including payments she continues to receive for winding down the school’s operations.”
Sounds pretty “rich” to me.
This is what is likely to happen if we let this amendment open the door for for profit Charter schools run by outside interests.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
8:33 pm
@ Charter&Mom,
The hypocritical part isn’t disagreeing with a state charter commission (which, by the way is NOT what the amendment does). You quoted Florida “letting charters in…” Doesn’t make sense to me at all.
Do you realize that most of the locally approved charters get turned down. We have one acquired on open record that has blank rubrics and denied written across the top. They aren’t getting a fair shake. We just want an appeals process that cannot be challenged by the districts. You can appeal if you go to court. You can appeal if your child gets a demerit at school. You can even appeal your tax records. Why not a charter denial?
bootney farnsworth
October 28th, 2012
8:43 pm
someone tell charterstarter, 2 to stop yelling
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
8:44 pm
@ I Love Teaching – Helllooooo. We are in Georgia, NOT Florida. Georgia’s charter leaders earn modest salaries because they are funded 26% LESS than the traditional schools – and that’s the locally approved charters. The state charters are significantly less than that. Gotta give you kudos for your creativity in distracting the voters with nonsense.
crankee-yankee
October 28th, 2012
8:49 pm
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
8:33 pm
The appeal process is in place. The powers that be are just feeding you a line about being fearful of litigation. If, however, that is truly their reason for not ruling on appeals in the past year and a half (and I have serious doubts about that) then they wrote the original legislation poorly. But that is just par for the course here in GA.
bootney farnsworth
October 28th, 2012
8:50 pm
something else which confuses me in all this….
this is obviously the pet project of Fran, Ed. & the red meat crowd. which is fine, that’s how the republic works. got a issue, advocate for it.
thing is, when politicians make such projects a personal issue, they are loathe to see it crash. when is the last time a politician pulled a plug on anything with their name on it?
for all the discussion of charters fail if not functional, what examples can be shown of Fran and co.
allowing something they’ve put so much effort into, to actually fail?
many of the pro charter supporters here are against entitlements, yet they don’t seem to see -or care?- they are supporting the creation of a new one.
bootney farnsworth
October 28th, 2012
8:53 pm
“@ Catlady – but your superintendent hasn’t given up his pay OR his retirement through all of this”
funny thing, this. we have howled and howled about the administrative bloat and cronyism in the system. and most of the charter supporters have called us whiners, parasites, and worse.
now someone care?
DeKalbParent
October 28th, 2012
8:57 pm
@Teacher&Mom The study you cite is for ONE state, Michigan, in which it states charters receive equal funding. That is not the case in Georgia. Citing one study from another state with different laws and history does not justify trashing a ballot measure here in Georgia.
bootney farnsworth
October 28th, 2012
8:59 pm
@ d
agreed, the area you work in is very racially/culturally/ect homogenous. so are areas in the midwest, texas, utah, ect.
mixed together, its a melting pot Finland can’t imagine. that’s why the US can’t use the Finnish model. however, it may well apply locally. it would be interesting to give it a shot in selected areas and see what the results are.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
9:01 pm
@ DeKalbParent – thank you for addressing Teacher&Mom. University of Washington did a study that is the only one I’ve seen that shows the national average, which is $68,000 (versus $87,000 for traditional school leaders). It was from a few years ago, but is the most recent I know of. We don’t have a study like that in Georgia – wish we did.
bootney farnsworth
October 28th, 2012
9:01 pm
@ crankee
I think you’re right about them trying to hide a poorly written (therefore easily defeatable) piece of legislation. my guess is the current crop of idiots thought they could just slide it thru with nobody asking too many questions
KIM
October 28th, 2012
9:06 pm
Public educators KNOW what is happening in our schools. That is why they do not support the amendment. They are doing magic with little resources. They are the real heros in our world.
crankee-yankee
October 28th, 2012
9:18 pm
“Helllooooo. We are in Georgia, NOT Florida.”
That is a typical response to the majority of problems that are pointed out in this state which is probably why we have so many problems. No one seems willing to learn from others’ mistakes. From transportation to education and a myriad of problems in between, the ignorant among us are hellbent on repeating discredited theories. Perhaps this is the real reason GA ranks in the lower half of the education tier, decision-makers fail to heed warning signs.
DeKalbParent
October 28th, 2012
9:24 pm
@KIM “Public educators KNOW what is happening in our schools. That is why they do not support the amendment. They are doing magic with little resources. They are the real heros in our world.”
HEROES? I think not! You must not live in DeKalb. Here they are using their “magic wand” to make our tax dollars disappear and move into their wallets!
yuzeyurbrane
October 28th, 2012
9:35 pm
Corporations are people, my friend.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
10:03 pm
@ Crankee-yankee,
I’m all for learning from mistakes. We have, after all, learned a lot about how NOT to operate a public school from some of our very own school districts here in Georgia. The problem with looking at another state with respect to chartering is that their laws and even the political context and climate is often different.
Support Public Education
October 28th, 2012
10:06 pm
I voted no! Do charter schools have buses? They will only serve chosen students. Why don’t public schools have the flexibility of charter schools?
another angle
October 28th, 2012
10:14 pm
While I am not a fan of profit-seeking enterprises trying to influence the vote, I am no more a fan of school administrators seeking to do likewise. In fact, it seems to me that school administrators and teachers should abstain from voting on this amendment. In the corporate world and the legal world, it would be normal course to abstain from voting. Go to the voting booth and vote based on the question, “Will this amendment potentially make things better for the average students?” I have my opinion as to the answer and I am good with whatever you select so long as you are voting with the kids in mind.
ChartersStarter, Too
October 28th, 2012
10:18 pm
@ Bootney – I’ve been howling about this for some time now. It’s been a problem for a long, long time. Charters have a way of spotlighting what is ignored or not known by most… which is precisely why the districts fight so hard. Why in the world would they want schools that have been proven to operate more efficiently and produce strong results?
@ Support Public Education – How about “Support kids?” It’s so tiresome hearing folks defend a bureaucracy rather than the children it serves. And yes, so charters do provide transportation – not all, but some. Charters enroll about 50% free and reduced lunch and economically disadvantaged students – we have open enrollment and a lottery. As for why public schools don’t have flexibility…they have since 1993 and have elected NOT to use the option wisely or to give the schools the level of autonomy that charters use to make positive gains. They will NOT relinquish control.