Archive for the ‘Legislature’ Category

Here is the video explanation of the state’s private school state scholarship by state Rep. David Casas, R-Lilburn. Please look at this to fully understand how this Legislature-approved program — characterized as a way for poor children in persistently failing schools to afford private schools — has become a back door for middle class parents to use tax dollars to pay their private school tuition bills.

Continue reading Here is the video urging private school parents to “scam” state for tuition money »

The investigation in The New York Times about the abuses of the Georgia Private School Tax Credit program has riled up a lot of people. (See earlier blog on this.)

The AJC has also written about this law, noting that the Georgia Legislature has enshrouded this questionable program in so much secrecy that it is near impossible for taxpayers to see where the money is going.

An investigative piece last year by AJC reporters James Salzer and Nancy Badertscher raised questions about the weak public accountability imposed on the program, which was created by the Legislature in 2008. (The bill was part of the general heave-ho given to public education that year.)

Last year, the Legislature made changes this year to the law that make it a crime for state officials to release key information about the program.  In contrast, other states with similar laws have strict public accountability rules including Florida.

Because of the lax language and virtual absence of oversight, a …

Continue reading Some private schools refuse to follow lawmaker’s advice and cheat the state »

Many people contend that the private school scholarships approved by the Georgia General Assembly were a back-door voucher and subsidy, that the money would not go to poor students in public schools to move to private schools as promised, but to students already in the private schools.

Reports that parents were making donations to schools that were then repackaged as “scholarships” for their own kids have been made to the Georgia General Assembly, which has ignored multiple reports of abuse and, in fact, enabled even greater abuse of the program.

In the last few years, the General Assembly has adopted a strong anti-public school posture, which remains puzzling given that nine out of 10 Georgia children attend public schools. But these legislators keep getting re-elected, so voters either don’t care or, more likely, don’t know what their lawmakers are doing.

A lengthy new New York Times investigation into these private school scholarships found that it’s no secret that the …

Continue reading Georgia’s private school scholarships: “Neovouchers” »

I have written a lot about the resurgence of segregated schools in the South, not by court order, but by housing choices.

Despite the hopes of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, court-ordered school desegregation never led to full community integration.

“Our nation, I fear, will be ill served by the court’s refusal to remedy separate and unequal education, for unless our children begin to learn together, there is little hope that our people will ever learn to live together, ” wrote Marshall in his dissent of the 1974 Supreme Court decision Milliken v. Bradley.

That decision effectively blocked drawing from heavily white suburbs to integrate city districts with high minority populations. When the Harvard Civil Rights Project looked at race and education 10 years ago, it concluded that metro Atlanta’s suburban residential segregation was the cause of its school resegregation.

School resegregation is occurring at the same time that the United States is …

Continue reading A nation grows more diverse as many of its schools grow less »

The state Department of Education released its list of Alert Schools today.

The new DOE accountability designations — priority schools, focus schools and reward schools — replace the “needs improvement” label in No Child Left Behind that educators deemed unclear and unhelpful. These three designations target  “Title I” schools that have a high percentage of low-income students. DOE also designated a fourth category, “alert schools,” so the state can focus on struggling schools that do not necessarily have a high percentage of low-income students.

DOE defines Alert Schools are those that need to raise student achievement on statewide assessments in the areas of graduation rate for high schools and subgroup performance and subject performance for elementary and middle schools. Alert Schools can be Title I Schools or Non-Title I Schools.

The criteria used to identify Alert Schools are:

(1) Graduation Alert Schools: High Schools whose subgroup …

Continue reading State DOE releases list of Alert Schools today »

Margaret Spellings

Daniel Malloy, the AJC’s reporter in Washington, D.C., sat down with former U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings for an interview at an event in Washington today.  Here are her answers to a series of questions on major education issues:

DM: Cheating scandal call testing into question?

Spellings: I think obviously the vast majority of educators and education leaders take assessment seriously and the integrity seriously and don’t cheat. When it does happen it ought to be addressed and attended to vigorously. Obviously, we saw that exact same thing play out in Atlanta and what encourages me when I think about the Atlanta case study, the business community, as you know, was very engaged, got a little sideswiped by the scandal, a little aggrieved by their engagement that was rewarded with this sort of behavior. I think to their credit they’ve stayed engaged and active and continue to be and are moving forward to the benefit of kids. Often we take our …

Continue reading Former U.S. ed secretary on legacy of No Child Left Behind »

Here is the statement released today on the name change approved by the Board of Regents to reflect the consolidation of Gainesville State College and North Georgia College & State University.

The board approved the name University of North Georgia for the new institution created through the consolidation of North Georgia College & State University and Gainesville State College

“Naming a university is a rare opportunity,” said Dr. Bonita C. Jacobs, president of North Georgia College & State University. “University of North Georgia is a forward-looking name that creates a strong identity for this new university that spans a large geographic region and that will have such a broad array of educational programs serving a student population of more than 15,000.”

Gainesville State College President Martha T. Nesbitt responded to the vote by saying, “I am very happy with the new name as it focuses on the regional character of the new multi-campus institution. This aspect also …

Continue reading Introducing the University of North Georgia »

Last week, a reader sent me and other AJC reporters a tip that the president of Georgia Perimeter College was out due to an audit that revealed a shortfall in the millions of dollars. Our higher ed reporter has been chasing down the lead ever since.

Today, the chancellor released a letter confirming that Anthony Tricoli was stepping down, but Hank Huckaby offers no  details of what led to the $16 million shortfall and why it was not caught until now.

Clearly, Tricoli is not a candidate for the UGA presidency, as several blog posters suggested last week after the news broke that Michael Adams was retiring next year.

We have several Georgia Perimeter College employees who sometimes comment on the blog. Folks, can you enlighten us on this mess?

Here is the AJC.com story by reporter Laura Diamond.

Georgia Perimeter College President Anthony Tricoli has stepped down after officials disclosed that the college has a $16 million budget shortfall, Chancellor Hank Huckaby announced …

Continue reading Tricoli out as Perimeter president; college faces a $16 million shortfall »

From the governor’s office:

Gov. Nathan Deal today signed into law legislation that will provide additional educational opportunities for Georgia students through state charter schools. The bill, HB 797, was signed at Cherokee Charter Academy in Canton.

“By observing high-performing charter schools throughout Georgia, it’s clear these institutions promote competition, innovation and creativity while encouraging strong parental involvement,” said Deal. “We must empower citizens with public school options and true local flexibility if we want to improve student achievement.”

HB 797 creates a state level approval mechanism for charter schools when communities request them. Under current law, charter schools approved by the state are forced to operate on approximately half of the funds of other public schools.

HB 797 sets forth a new funding mechanism for these schools and establishes a State Charter Schools Commission to conduct the review process for charter school …

Continue reading Governor signs charter school enabling bill today and endorses November amendment. »

I thought this memo from David Schutten of the Organization of DeKalb Educators to his members about the contract mess in DeKalb was worth sharing as it clears up several points.

While his memo speaks to the plight of DeKalb educators this week, his comment about the failure of administrators to spend the required time to do the new, more comprehensive teacher observations underscores a statewide concern.

When the state unveiled its plan for new teacher evaluations that will consider student performance and require increased classroom observation, I asked DOE whether it was a realistic, whether principals would be able to find the time to go into classrooms and watch teachers at work.

Schutten’s comments suggest that they are not finding the time –  even under a limited pilot model involving a handful of teachers. How can we expand this model to every teacher in every school?

Here is Schutten’s memo, which was written for members of ODE:

I met with Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith, …

Continue reading DeKalb teachers group: Sign that contract if you want your job »