Pass charter schools amendment, get back to fixing education in Georgia

Georgia for 300 years has been at the bottom of the educational barrel, so it will take more than a few years and a few dollars to change the culture of superstition (fundamnentalism), violence and arrogant ignorance that dominates Georgian society.

The biggest problem facing Georgia’s educators is the children of Georgia, most of whom come from generation after generation of willful stupidity.

Giving a world-class education to poorly raised children is an expensive, challenging, and probably, at least in the short run, hopeless.

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Charter schools are one of Kyle’s hot buttons. It’s just another political distraction, not a cure-all, for the state of Georgia’s and the nation’s education.

What’s demanded of schools is to educate children to be smarter, wiser, and more fit, motivated, and diligent than their parents. The formidable obstacles are: parents and relatives, dumbed-down, brain-addling television and electronic games, and grand-standing politicians who run the schools by setting “standards” and dispensing funds.

But, why do we want to educate children to be something out of the ordinary in our society? Isn’t the function of childhood education to pass on our generation’s values to the next? Isn’t that exactly what our public schools are doing? Why would we want our kids to be more like Scandinavians, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, and less like Americans?

Stop the moaning and groaning over education; Instead, praise the schools for their valuable contribution to our way of life! Schools provide a safe environment for children while their parents are at work or play, and they promote the social development of children by supervising the interactions with peers.

As for education, American children learn by observing their parents and relatives, watching television, and playing with electronics devices. What’s the use of trying to teach boring academic subjects in schools? Why should children learn trigonometry and algebra? Their parents never learned it, or have long forgotten it. Who needs history? It’s is just one bloody thing after another that keeps repeating itself .

Don’t worry! Calm down! Everything’s just as it should be.

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I like the charter schools idea, support Constitutional change. I think the Supreme Court ruling last year was within the realm of reason and logic based on the state Constitution – not egregious – even though I saw a path (not followed) to a different conclusion.

“local boards like control too much to give them sole control over charter approvals” – that is the difference between government and private industry; government overlords are too stupid to know that micromanagement does not work.

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I just placed (8:00 am) the following post on Jay Bookman’s blog in which I urge citizens NOT to support HR 1162. I support charter schools THAT ARE APPROVED BY LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS but not those that are approved by a Statewide Charter School Commission which may have a political agenda of dismantling public schools. Please read my reasons below. I have been a public school educational leader for 35 years. I believe in public education, as did Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, in my opinion, would be appalled at this attempt to undermine public schools, and their inherent ability to foster freedom of thought.
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“I will call members of of the General Assembly to urge passage of the Ethics Reform Bill –

RIGHT AFTER I urge them to stop the passage of House Resolution 1162, sponsored by House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones (R – Milton), which is in response to the Supreme Court ruling last year that rendered the state Charter School Commission unconstitutional; essentially the state had no right to approve special charter schools that move local public education dollars without local board of education approval.

The proposed amendment allows special charter schools to petition the state for charter status and access local school dollars. This resolution was introduced yesterday at the State Capitol in concert with School Choice Day.

IF PASSED HR 1162 WOULD ALTER THE CONSTITUTION AND ALLOW PRIVATE COMPANIES THAT OPERATE CHARTER SCHOOLS TO SYPHON LOCAL TAX DOLLARS WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY OR OVERSIGHT, WITHOUT ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND WITHOUT EDUCATOR CRITERIA CURRENTLY IN PLACE IN TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

(Thomas Jefferson would be appalled because, in my opinion, this resolution is a strong attempt by the Republican majority legislators to further dismantle public schools, of which Jefferson was a strong supporter. The resolution leads to private sector control over the education of Georgia’s students – not a healthy proposition in that students could be used for profit and/or for propaganda. Jefferson felt that public schools, paid for by taxes on all citizens to educate ALL young citizens, were the foundation of our Democratic Republic because public schools would not be controlled by special interests. Jefferson wanted no limits placed on the freedom of thought. Public schools are not bought by anyone. Public schools belong to the public. Improve them; don’t dismantle them. I support charter schools that are allowed by Local School Board approval, but I do not support charter schools that are allowed by this Statewide Charter School Commission.)

Here is how HR1162 would read, if on the ballot in November. I wonder how many other Republican majority state General Assemblies are pushing a similar resolution, and I wonder what ideological forces might be behind this effort to dismantle public education?

Below is the language of that Resolution. The words sound innocuous. Don’t be fooled.
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“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended for the purpose of raising student achievement by allowing state and local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?” YES or NO
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STATUS: This resolution was just put on the agenda to be heard in the House Education Committee today (Thursday) at 1:00 p.m. in Room 506 in the Coverdell Legislative Office Building (CLOB). This bill is expected to move through committee today.

Hopefully it will not. When you call to support the ethics reform bill, also voice disapproval of Resolution 1162. Thank you.”

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Kyle should really stay out of education, as he is as misinformed as most Republican politicians when it comes to education. The reason Georgia is a perennial cellar-dweller when it comes to achievement is largely due to the influence of poverty, which is the single-most important influencing factor when it comes to educational performance. The reason we spend more dollars is directly linked to the negative outcomes associated with poverty, i.e. more students with disabilities and more students receiving free and reduced breakfasts and lunches. The state-commissioned charter school movement is simply a way to side-step local boards of education and funnel money into schools who have the ability to pick and choose their students, unlike regular public schools. I know whereof I speak, as I teach in a public school, with a 99% minority and low-SES student body, located directly across the street from a state-chartered school, which is about 75% white. Allowing the state to approve charter schools opens wide the door to taxpayer-funded segregation.

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Tax Paying Parent @ 8:30 am

“Excellent post, Mary Elizabeth!! Thank you!”
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Tax Paying Parent, T
Thank you for your voiced support. You may be interested in these remarks I just posted on Jay Bookman’s blog regarding the difference in public and private sector responsiblities in our nation.

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” ‘Mary E. – thanks for the update. Privatization will be the ruin of this nation.’

Thank you for your voiced support. You are right that (an out-of-balance) privatization will be the ruin of this nation. There must be balance between the private and public sectors in our nation. The business sector should be private. Education MUST remain public, including public charter schools that (remain) public institutions in reality, not in name only, controlled by private interests and private money.

Just observe the lack of quality and success of Florida’s schools once they dismantled public schools. Improve public schools; don’t dismantle them by legislators, who are often pawns of higher wealth and power interests, and (who) are not educators, nor do they understand education with the depth of educators.”
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1. The issue with schools is not with school boards it is with the local BOE.
2. A For Profit Company is going to operate in the best interest of the company.
3. As long as the Test is the standard of measurement for schools then nothing will change.
4. Poverty and attitudes of parents and community towards the school as the biggest impact.

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But Georgians ought to question whether it really makes sense to add more money to the same old educational model that’s produced those lackluster results.

It’s not the model; it’s the management. Public school has been effective all over the country and all over the world. In fact, many schools in the state use the “same old educational model” to great success.

On the other hand, the record for private schools, charter schools, and voucher systems has been spotty, at best (http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/cobb-board-rejects-charter-1191521.html ). As usual, the case for charter schools is just another rationalization, not supported by the facts, for diverting taxpayer money to private enterprises.

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Thank you, Mary Elizabeth. I am part of the first generation of Georgians educated in integrated public schools. It was difficult for me to imagine what it must have been like in the past, until I came to teach at my current school, which is rural, poor, and nearly 100% minority. What is sad is that, just 15 years ago, this was a thriving, integrated school system, deemed one of the best rural systems in the state. Unfortunately, the last appointed, as opposed to elected, superintendent called in the Department of Education to investigate the use of tracking. It was a huge debacle, gaining national coverage on 60 Minutes, and all but the poorest white families left for private schools in the area. But private schools are expensive, so a group of local parents, tired of paying tuition, decided to open a regional charter school. When the local boards denied their request, they went to the state commission. Now we once again have an effectively segregated public school system, and I think it is regrettable that instead of making progress, we have reverted to the separate and unequal of schools of the past.

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“Every day this blog is full of “obozo” and “libs” and other mindless yammering”

You have the freedom NOT to come on this blog. You do know that, right?

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Bart Abel @ 9:16

“As usual, the case for charter schools is just another rationalization, not supported by the facts, for diverting taxpayer money to private enterprise.”
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Well said, however, if Local School Boards determine which, and how many, charter schools are operative within their districts, and if those local school boards allow those charter schools to innovate for the benefit of coordinating their findings with their mainstream public schools, everyone can become a winner. Public schools will not be dismantled, but improved for the benefit of ALL children, and public charter schools can thrive, as well.

Furthermore, now there exists in Georgia a computerized data system, statewide, of individual student’s academic progress including their standardized test scores. This information should be used primarily to diagnose students’ needs and to target instruction more effectively. Now is the time, having that vital instructional information readily available, for establishing the coordination between our public schools, both charter and mainstream. Now is not the time to create isolated charter schools that serve only an elite few, using public monies to do so.

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Mary Elizabeth

Do you think vouchers are bad? If so, please explain why ALL politicians send their kids to private schools?

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“Public school has been effective all over the country and all over the world. ”

Stop lying.

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Studies show that some charter schools are good, and some not so much. BUT, what most often comes out, is that the charter schools that do really well, generally don’t have the special education students that public school must accept.

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Gee Mac @ 9:27 am

“If our political leaders, whatever their party affiliation, want to “fix” education, then I suggest they focus on developing an equitable funding formula for all public schools, and stay out of local school board business.”
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Thank you for your remarks and for your personal testimony that is enlightening. I will not be at home for the remainder of the day, so that I will not be able to respond further.
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Thomas Jefferson’s words from Saul Padover’s book, entitled “Jefferson,” page 68:

“To annul this privilege, and instead of an aristocracy of wealth, or more harm and danger, than benefit, to society, to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and talent, which nature has wisely provided for the direction of the interests of society, and scattered with equal hand through all it’s (sic) conditions, was deemed essential to a well order republic.”
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Now, please allow me to highlight a few key words from Jefferson’s remarks, above:

“. . .instead of an aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger than benefit to society. . .”

“make an opening for virtue and talents. . .scattered with EQUAL hand through ALL its conditions. . .deemed essential for a well ordered republic.”

(Caps are mine – to highlight Jefferson’s essential thoughts.)
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For these reasons and tenets of his thinking, Thomas Jefferson was a strong supporter of public education for ALL of America’s citizens, not segregated by wealth and class, and paid for by public taxes levied on all of society’s citizens. In fact, Jefferson believed that public education was a strong foundation for a free society so that every individual would be able to see into the propaganda and machinations of those of wealth and power who may use ordinary citizens for their own private interests. Moreover, he wanted power and responsibility for the continuance and governance of our nation shared by ALL citizens, not simply those of power and prestige.

Jefferson’s words that all have heard, “We hold these truths to be self-evident. . . that all are created equal.”

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“The department of education is a joke and has wasted billions over decades. Public schools are horrible and teachers/parents are to blame as well as politicians”

So we should then starve it of funding until it withers in invalidity, right? Just like Federal Gov’t in general, if you can’t get public support for abolishing the DOE the just cut off it’s funding until it is no longer possible for it to function, thereby bypassing public approval and at the same time justifying/enabling your position of “abolish now”, correct? Forget holding accountable those who have collected salaries for providing direction. Forget identifying the problem(s) and addressing them. Screw the kids who will be too poor to attend private schools even with the vouchers you “conservatives” love so much… we already know they’re incapable of using an education to better themselves, their communities and the country, don’t we? After all, they’re poor and therefore unworthy.

Better to take our tax dollars and give them to pivately owned charter schools so they can use them to turn a PROFIT (key word) for themselves while only accepting those students that they want attending their institution, right? Trying to educate those poor folk is just a waste of time and money (and PROFIT) anyway… they’ll get along just fine janitoring at those charter schools and gathering carts at Walmart… right?

I would have more respect for conservatives and their legislators if they were honest about their motivations and goals instead of dressing them up in rhetoric and appealing to the worst, most ignorant and inhumane aspects of human nature in us all to forward them

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Final comment: Yes – to answer a question of me above – I do think “vouchers are bad” for all of the reasons I have elaborated upon in this thread.

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Funny, I thought you might have posted some empirical evidence that charter schools better prepare students to achieve some measurable success.

Oh right, such evidence doesn’t exist. So tell me, why the push for charter schools?

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“Jefferson believed that public education was a strong foundation for a free society”

Jefferson didn’t have to deal with todays society.

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money doesn’t buy better results

better teacher hiring (and firing) improves results

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“Do you think vouchers are bad? If so, please explain why ALL politicians send their kids to private schools?”

Because they can afford to. A better question would be how these politicians aquire that wealth . A person making between 100k – 200k a year for 4 or 6 years somehow comes out of the mix with wealth in the millions, but we’re supposed to believe that while in office they’re serving OUR best interests and NOT using their position, influence and environment to better their own financial standing?

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Chuck Doberman

I hear people like Obama talk about how we need to pour more money into public schools yet his daughters have always gone to private schools. Even before he was president.

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I always find it amazing that people think that $9,500 is too much to spend to educate ALL children (special needs included in that amount), when it costs $20,000 to educate those needy children who attend schools like Westminster, Pace, Lovett etc. Why are those children so expensive to educate?

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“Why are those children so expensive to educate?’

They’re not. It’s just that politicians have to get re-re-re-re-elected and need some sort of tool to get dumb people to vote for them.

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My kids were in Public school until we won admission into a Charter school through the lottery. We were in a Blue Ribbon School, so the academic performance was very good. The Charter School we went to has higher performance and both of my kids have prospered.

I live in Fulton County and the only Public School option we had was a Charter School, our zoned school just wouldn’t support our kids.

For us Private or Charter is the only option. The US lags behind in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education in the world. For every kid, who is capable, but denied that education we issue another H1B Visa to import these skills from overseas.

Our Public schools run the BOE seem to focus on the middle to poor performing students. That is definitely needed, but we must also support the top performers, if not we should just keep the H1B Visa machine well oiled.

I have a client that uses 4 major overseas outsourcing vendors. The smallest one has 1,000 engineers and computer scientists in the US, with 4,000 overseas. It takes about 2 weeks from the time a company says they need the skill until a foreign national turns up at work.

Our experience in our Charter School shows me that we can teach our kids to compete in the global economy. I know all Charter schools may not perform this well, but with the 1 data point I have, it looks obvious that we should support this option. I know the County BOE hate losing control, but in many cases they should.

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Somewhere – great job epitomizing my original post. Well done

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Somewhere over there

January 26th, 2012
10:04 am

Are you aware that the word discriminate means “pick and choose”?? The private schools DO discriminate as to whom they desire to educate!!

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Hello Wingnut! The issue is allowing a faceless Charter Commission to circumvent the local boards constitutional governing authority. Local boards are elected officials! They do represent their community through an election process. This amendment would set-up a scenerio of taxation without representation. Does this far away (ATL) Charter Commission represent the will of local taxpayers? I think not.

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carlosgvv…..AMEN!

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A few replies are necessary to the comments by Mary Elizabeth, Gee Mac, and Atlanta Mom, because your comments show the ignorance of the typical misinformed public school views on charter schools:

1.) “Syphons taxpayer money” – Charter schools are given taxpayer money based on the number of students that enroll there, and the parents of those students pay taxes too, therefore money isn’t being syphoned away from the public schools, it’s following the student, as it should be. Why should the money go to your schools when the students aren’t even attending there? Makes no sense at all. If these students went to private schools (and many would choose to do so based on the horrible learning environments in some of these public schools – oh, the stories I could tell!), you still wouldn’t get the funding because they don’t attend your school – do you also condemn private schools because they syphon your taxpayer money?
2.) “No accountability or oversight” – completely false, and something FCS is only saying now because they are upset about not getting their way in shutting down a school that is outperforming their schools. Yes, charter schools don’t have to abide by all of the red-tape, beaurocratic, micro-managing efforts of the County, but they are just as accountable to the County for their performance as any other school is. It is part of their charter that they reach specific levels of performance, levels I might add that are higher than the other traditional schools achieve.
3.) “Without academic standards” – Now that’s just flat out lying to the public to influence them to lean toward your point of view. As someone who is a school educational leader for 35 years, you surely know that every school in the state follows the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS), including charter schools, don’t you? That’s common knowedge to anyone who knows anything about education in the State. Shame on you for misleading others.
4.) “Without educator criteria” – All charter school teachers are now required to be State Certified, so how can you say there is no criteria? They meet the same criteria as every other school? Admittedly, it wasn’t always that way – they just had to be “highly qualified” – typically meaning that they have a degree in the field they are teaching – but that was previously the case, not any longer. Now, every teacher in the school the County was trying to close down is already certified or has a provisional certification (meaning they are in the process of being certified). Even other public schools use the provisional teachers.
5.) “Run by the private sector” – Again, not exactly accurate, at least not in regards to the school the County was trying to close down. It is run by a governing board that is made up of founding members and elected parents (ones that do have good qualifications on how to run a school). These elected parents are the majority on their school board – they have a say on how the school is run that THEIR child attends. The school’s day-to-day operations are run by the principal (and quite well I would say based on their success) and not some private business who knows nothing about education. Every decision made is by administrators who are educators and qualified to do what is in the best interests of the students who attend there.
6.) “Ability to pick and choose students” – Charter schools by law cannot only pick and choose the best students in order to increase their test scores or create segregation. Students get in via a lottery (siblings do have a priority and by-pass the lottery), and test scores are not looked at to determine who gets in. If these schools have more TAG students, it is because more TAG students applied to their school (and that would be because the parents of those children are more involved and are unhappy with the educational environment in the other public schools).
7.) “Doesn’t accept Special Ed students to their school” – Again, that is false. By law, they must accept anyone who gets in via the lottery. The school the County was trying to close actually has about 10% of it’s population as either Special Education or has accommodations through a 504 Plan. That number doesn’t even include the students with disabilities that do not require significant accommodations.

Although this issue affects all charter schools, the main one this debate is centered around is Fulton Science Academy MS in Alpharetta. This school is one of only 300 in the NATION to be given the Blue Ribbon Award by the US Dept. of Education this year, it is the first GA charter school to recieve it, and the only middle school in the state to receive it. FCS downplays this because they don’t want the competition anymore – it’s making them look bad, because “their” schools aren’t doing quite as well. FSAMS has had the top ITBS scores in the County IN ALL 5 SUBJECTS FOR 4 YEARS STRAIGHT. They downplay it because they know that FSAMS is sucessful because they don’t have to be micro-managed by the County and because they don’t have TOTAL control.
I also think it’s horrible that FCS would take issue with FSAMS wanting a better facility for their students – one that’s not in an old wharehouse with an undersized gym, doesn’t have grass fields, has leaky ceilings, and windowless classrooms. In spite of the terrible facilities, they still find a way to be sucessful! FSAMS should be applauded for getting a bond instead of making the taxpayer foot the bill directly, unlike they had to do for the $36 million plantation-like HS Milton got a few years ago. FSAMS itself is responsible for repaying the bond – isn’t that better than throwing it away renting the bad facility they’ve had to live with for 10 years? The FCSS is the one mismanaging taxpayer money here – they spend $36 million for one high school (and yet they are still opening new ones in the area because that one wasn’t big enough), and yet FSAMS is spending HALF that for both a middle and high school together? It just goes to show you that FCS employees and management are trying to deflect from their own problems by blaming someone else….

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To quote another blog, Allowing local school boards to decide on a charter school’s renewal is akin to allowing Red Lobster to decide if an Applebee’s can open next door. They are competitors. Period.

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If your kids can’t make it in public school either the student or the parents are not involved or stupid.

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HDB….Is any college institution discriminatory in admissions? YEP….they discriminate against white Americans every day. They must have a certain percentage of black and minority students.

NOW YOU TELL ME WHO IS GETTING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST???

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I live in Fulton County where everybody is somebody! Who needs Scholl……Please close all the charter scholls down! I am fine with the Puplick scholl )))

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“we can’t afford more years of pouring more and more money into an educational system that produces diminishing returns.”

And yet the liberals keep crying that we’re just not pouring in enough money (and as a corollary, not taking more money away from the people that earned it). Seeing as how liberals are essentially in charge of the school systems now (as opposed to when I went to school), is it surprising they want more money poured into the schools?

The ability of the (so-called) “graduates” to function as adults diminishes every year. (Coincidence? I think not.) Most of these clods can’t even balance a checkbook, much less understand a cause-and-effect relationship. But hey, they’re Facebook experts!

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Georgiais # 50 in Education If we had more states I am very sure that we would find a way to be at the bottom…Can you see that Georgia’s educational system does not work! Why be afraid of something that works Such as FULTON SCIENCE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL why our local board is afraid of competition? It is time to try something else …I am sick and tired of Public education as it is.

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UGA 1999

January 26th, 2012
11:21 am

“HDB….Is any college institution discriminatory in admissions? YEP….they discriminate against white Americans every day. They must have a certain percentage of black and minority students.

NOW YOU TELL ME WHO IS GETTING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST???”

If you honestly think white students are being discriminated against, then please explain the DECLINING enrollment of minority students in college………with all of the anti-Affirnmative Action laws being passed…such as the Bakke case in California…..the decline in minority adminssions is evident. Are there factors other than race in play here……admittely yes. You can’t say the white people are being discriminated AGAINST…for they are the ones IN POWER!! One must have POWER in order to discriminate…….and they are setting the rules!! Don’t hate me because you changed the rules!!!

To expound further: as a graduate of UGA, hopefully, you are aware that UGA did NOT allow its first black student to ENTER until the 60s……but it’s the oldest land grant university in the nation. Please inform me as to whom has been discriminated AGAINST more……..

In math…a negative times a negative is a POSITIVE!! If ALL schools had OPEN ENROLLMENT, then your issue would be germain….but since not……………….

Somewhere over there
January 26th, 2012
11:28 am

From the THESAURUS:

discriminate:
Main Entry: cull

Part of Speech: verb

Definition: pick out for reason

Synonyms:

choose, discriminate , elect, extract, glean, mark, opt for, optate, pluck, prefer, select, sift, single out, take, thin, thin out, winnow

Please elaborate where the racial overtone is here………………….

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Kyle is for local control of education except when Big Brother is the more available path for taking the first step towards a voucher program. The case for charters has not been made yet. They are experiments with pro’s and con’s. But siphoning scarce funds from public education to provide more welfare for the wealthy seems to always be Kyle’s preferred option. That is the only consistency in his positions.

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I’ve always wondered why private business doesn’t take control to educate their future employees.

If you want your child working for government, send them to a government school. If you want them to work for a successful business, put them in a business run school.

Having said that, there are two charter schools here in Clayton County…both made up of minority students…one all black…the other black and hispanic. That tells me that minorities are looking for something better than what the government offers. Both schools not only meet, but exceed statewide requirements. We’ve had other charters than were dismal failures.

Just this week my daughter began her fellowship at a low-income, predominantly black school. While navigating with her little charges, she was approached by one of the teachers (black). He addressed her as Mom and asked which child was hers. Puzzled, she said “None of them are mine…I’m taking over for (insert name here)”. To which he responded “Are you sure? ‘Cause ‘that one’ looks like you”.

His point? I have yet to figure it out. An odd way to welcome a newcomer.

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yuzeyurbrane,

You’re repeating the same inaccurate arguments that I countered earlier – read my long post from earlier. Charters don’t syphon funds and they don’t just choose whatever kids they want to get in (your wealthy inference). Quit misleading the public. In regards to “control of education”, that actually is the problem here. FCS is trying to control a school that has been successful in spite of their beaurocratic red-tape mentality. When you allow a school the freedom to do whatever is necessary, WHEN it is necessary, in order to help students achieve – you can get positive results. That’s what FSAMS has proved and it’s what the FCSS is trying to stop because they want control. The State is trying to ensure that FSAMS can operate they way they need to to be successful and FCSS, which has a conflict of interest, does not…

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“Why didn’t you join Jay in court with that birther crap?”

Jay is trying to find anything he can to take away the focus from how horrible Obozo is.

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Kyle, interesting topic and interesting comments. I’m thinking that Charter schools are just treating the symptom when we really should be addressing the root cause of the problem. Ending tenure, requiring teachers to have some pratical experience rather than “book theory”, and end this “no child can succeed” program we call no child left behind. Also, shut down the Dept of Education which has been dumbing down education since Jimmy made it official, and use that money at the state and local levels for education enhancement. I remember the old adage that says those closest to the problem are most capable of solving it. As a retired business owner and an adjunct college professor for the past 11 years, I don’t think we’re teaching our grammar/high school students how to do anything except take classes. Just my opinion. Thanks for your article.

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Getalife:

Why didn’t you join Jay in court with that birther crap?

I dropped in at jay’s to review some of the comments. I agree with Ragnar…the only people interested in “crap”, selective or overALL, are jay and his left-wingers.

schnirt

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Georgia public education for a long long time has been a black hole for tax payer dollars. Charter schools and other options (e.g. computer/on line education programs) should be allowed. Public Schools administrative staffs should be modeled after successful private schools (this means drastically cutting them and returning some of that money to taxpayers while rewarding successful teachers with the rest. Our colleges need to lower tuition/etc by getting lean and mean with their administrations as well. Ga. high school and college administrators recieve outrageous salaries, benefits, etc (some even are provided housing stipends). It’s time for Georgia’s governor and the legislature to stop running from their responsibility to the taxpayer and cut back on the number of administrators and also on the salaries and benefits. After all these people are supposed to be working for the taxpayer since that’s who pays these salaries/etc. A recent article in the AJC stated dekalb co. had a study done by an independent organization and that particular county had an excess 300 adminstrators—that’s not 300 but an excess of 300. why doesn’t the legislature and the governor demand such a study be done on all georgia counties and then reorganize our schools to be staffed appropriately??

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Amazing how hard liberals advocate for failing programs. Pathetic.

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Want to fix education in GA ? Get the government completely out of the business of education, starting with the socialist theft mechanism that funds government/charter schools.

Until parents start having to be financially responsible for their kid’s education, have to do the leg work to secure charitable aid to assist them, and can also be empowered to move their child and their money/scholarship to another school when their current one fails their kids, there will be NO change whatsoever of any significance.

It is high time for conservatives to call the socialist funding mechanism what it is – theft.

It is high time for conservatives to stop looking for government to solve their problems (as they always seem to do, despite their hollow rhetoric).

It is high time to abandon the government school system and homeschool or send their kids to private schools.

It is high time to start walking the walk instead of just talking the talk.

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Why liberals are so scared of charter schools, what a little competition top much for you?

Aquagirl, seems like when a conservative does an “end run” you complain, what about Obozo making recess appointment when they are NOT in recess? Gee could that be a double standard???

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No, TC this was in regard to CharterDad’s comment about businesses hiring outside of the US because US schools lag behind in STEM.

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Sarah Coulter

You give a whole new meaning to the word insane.

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“Why liberals are so scared of charter schools, what a little competition top much for you?”

Because they want everyone to be as stupid and incompetent as they are.

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“My son is in special education and no private or charter school will serve him due to the cost. The GOP does not give a damn about my son ,so I have left them.”

Perhaps you should be the one to care for your child. It’s not up to a party to care for your kids.

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Junior Samples–Where I come from Charter Schools receive public money in exchange for results.I guess that makes them public.

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Former Reagan Republican:

You’re in luck.

Finding a school where your child can reach his highest potential is paramount for many parents. When their child has special needs, this can be a daunting task. However, for these parents, their choices have vastly improved during the last few years in the state of Georgia. The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship (GSNS) is now offered to children who have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in a Georgia public school. Students must have attended a public school in the state for a year to qualify. The scholarship can be used to help the child transfer to another public school which may better meet his or her needs or to attend a private school that is on the approved state list. Most parents opt for private school.

http://www.georgiafamily.com/articles.aspx?articleID=512

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“The day after you did!”

Keep trying, cupcake.

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Americans for Prosperity is front for the Koch Brothers. Enuf’ said.

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5 MYTHS ABOUT PRIVATE SCHOOLS

They Are Only for Rich Kids. Private schools now champion diversity. Financial assistance is frequently available.

You Have to Wear a Uniform. Sometimes uniforms are required, but that’s often considered a positive. More frequently dress codes abound.

They Are Difficult to Get Into. In large cities, there might be a long list of applicants for a place, but usually not in Middle Georgia.

They Are Unregulated. Most private schools are regulated by state education departments. Most serious private schools are accredited as well.

They Are Better Than Public Schools. Actually, they are very similar in most respects except one: class size. Excellence varies, just as in public schools.

An honest assessment based on what I’ve read and seen.

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@@

Back when I was in school, all those years ago, there was always a kid, here and there, who had been held back a year, often that meant they went through first grade twice, but not always. You can’t learn from failure, unless you fail. Of course, after I got grown and out in the work force, you still have a bit of the same thing. The guy who can’t do his job, usually just cruises along and his work gets shifted to those who can/will do the job.

As for problems with the local school board, back in the old days, you either voted them out or moved. That’s one advantage of a small community, there is sometimes more accountability of elected officials. They know if they go to the store, somebody is liable to walk right up to them and tell them if they think they ain’t cuttin’ the mustard. They can’t get lost in a crowd like city/suburban politicians can.

Knew somebody recently told a higher county official that “y’all ain’t doing nothing but wasting money”. He said, “That’s what Mama told me”. “Well, you ought to listen to her”, was the reply.

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“Keep trying, cupcake.”

*****************************

Try? I’m succeeding in trolling you. And cupcake is sexist! (can’t wait to see what response I will get to that.)

Why are the Republicans making such a big deal out of education? Only a few short years ago, education and intellectuals were deemed weak and elitist. It was all about the “Joe the Plumber” types that are just regular guys that don’t need an education because they work with their hands.

Make the charter schools vocational and tech schools so all of those “real men” can work with their hands. Problem solved.

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Take all control from local and fund only with state dollars.

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“I am a left-leaning moderate”

????????

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Charter School Dad

You do vote for the school board that hires the superintendent. There is your representation. Representation does not mean you get what you want. Just that you have a voice through the election of your board.

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It’d be interesting to know, of those who go to college but don’t finish, how many don’t finish because they can’t do the work, how many decide it isn’t what they want to do, how many have life change their plans, how many decide to go for a job opportunity, etc. I’d think the reasons would be many and you can’t really draw a conclusion without taking all that into account.

Of people I know personally, who went to college, most didn’t finish for a myriad of reasons, and most who did finish, never worked in a field that related to their degree. They’ve had all ranges of success, monetary and otherwise. Some have done quite well and others not so well, and often quite different from the results that would have been predicted for them, when they left high school.

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” GOP is determined to destroy public education and my son’s chance for a future.”

Riiiiiiiiight, I’m sure the GOP is just sitting around wondering how they can hurt you kid.

You need to grow up.

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yeah, there aren’t a lot of jobs out there for pottery, poetry and philosophy majors.

That may be but I don’t know anybody who majored in any of those, so I wouldn’t know.

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For one thing, if Georgia is graduating nine students out of a hundred, then something really needs to change. We must try something.

Maybe we could get the parents to reimburse us the cost of educating their children up to the point they dropped out. If parents had THAT threat hanging over ‘em, they’d probably get their heads in the education game. A financial incentive of sorts.

schnirt

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“That may be but I don’t know anybody who majored in any of those, so I wouldn’t know.”

Bookman’s daughter majored in poetry.

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” It was all about the “Joe the Plumber” types that are just regular guys that don’t need an education because they work with their hands.”

Well, if you had half a brain you’d have paid more attention, cupcake. That had EVERYTHING to do with taking money from someone and giving it to someone else all in the name of “fairness.” It’s not the GOP’s fault you’re not smart.

***********************************

Oh poodle, You are really are illiterate! Is reading comprehension skills something you lack? Were you too busy butchering the Queen’s language to pick up that skill?

My post clearly talks about the disdain that Republicans have for intellectuals. Didn’t some Republican say that the “wusses” were in academia? Or was that on the Fox News blog? It is hard to keep up with the idiocy.

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Hillbilly D,

I was going to tell you how my father and mother, my husband and I and four of our five children all went into work related to their college degrees. So it does happen.

Education was considered a necessity not a choice in my family. Must have started with my grandfather who sent six of his eight children off to college while he ran a little country store during the hardest of times.

Yes, I’m bragging but I am thankful for that legacy.

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“decipher that white men are being discriminated against.”

Bigot.

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TC,

You are a great advocate for charter schools. I wish all schools were as successful as the one you described. We need to hear more about what we are doing right.

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@Kyle…”A key to improving the system, rather than merely pouring more money into it, is restoring the state’s ability to approve charter schools. Charters are public schools, but they give parents and students options while allowing for more innovation — and accountability — than traditional public schools.”

Here’s the issue Kyle…on the surface data does not really show a correlation between Charters and performance. Below you see the top ten states in Charter School students, of which Georgia is one, and their 8th grade NAEP rank for reading. I picked reading because that is the building block for all else. What the data shows is that of the ten 4 are average, 3 are higher than average and 3 are lower than average….pretty much a statistical wash.

Charters are ok but I just don’t see how they are a significant key to the issue.

California 299,742 Lower that National Average
Arizona 132,229 Lower that National Average
Florida 131,183 At National Average
Texas 129,853 Lower that National Average
Michigan 99,660 At National Average
Ohio 94,171 Higher than National Average
Colorado 63,799 Higher than National Average
Pennsylvania 61,823 Higher than National Average
Georgia 47,697 At National Average
New York 44,000 At National Average

Source: The Center for Education Reform

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Deflecting won’t win you any new brain cells, cupcake.

*************************************************

Are you speaking from experience?

Then again, you’re not an intellectual.

*************************************************

Would you know an intellectual if it smacked you in the face? I seriously doubt it.

” Didn’t some Republican say that the “wusses” were in academia? ”

No.

*****************************

Liar.

No, you’re quite easy to keep up with.

************************************

>;^)

“decipher that white men are being discriminated against.”

Bigot.

*****************************************************

Sexist. So we are even! Now get a life, trollbait.

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“So we are even! Now get a life, trollbait.”

It’s funny how you pretend to be an intellectual yet you haven’t written one single intelligent comment. Oh, and troll bait is two words, cupcake.

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Aquagirl I bet most parents with kids in public schools couldn’t tell you who the principal was more less the elected official who runs the place. The reason private schools work when they do work is because they cost the users of them money which never bores anyone it seems. Your interest is drawn to who is teaching your children to who is running the school, like a stock you have bought. You are invested and you want your money’s worth. The teacher feels more obligation because they are eyeball to eyeball with the payer, the parent feels more obligation because they are the payee and the student feels more pressure to compete because they see the sacrifice made by the parent.

I remember both my girls going to private school and the elementary school across the street from my house was not cutting their grass. I remember my wife volunteered me , at the neighborhood meeting I didn’t attend ,to cut the grass on a rotation with others for free. I was furious because I had not only had to pay for the public school, with my property taxes, I was never going to use but now I was going to be a damn neighborhood do gooder and cut the grass for these sorry people, which I imagine I had paid for already and it never got done. So what is the difference in paying for Charter or public? Maybe just maybe you and I will get more for our money. The schools are one thing even the private school types that don’t use them care about because we pay for them, kids or no kids. I not sure we care about the kids going there ,like Aquagirl has displayed so well, but we do care about our money. You will see when the rich pay taxes they will start caring about their country more too. There won’t be this disconnect. When we are in a year like this year where we are getting sub par quality in our presidential candidates we may decide we want more for our money. Maybe we might get in our car and go cut the grass at the White House or better yet decide we should be living there instead of giving it away to a bunch of fruitcakes.

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James – your native tongue does not appear to be English, but your particular useage sounds very familiar.
Your livelihood wouldn’t happen to depend on the status of STATE charters, would it?

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“So what is the difference in paying for Charter or public?”

My answer: Paying for Charter offers parent and child freedom of choice to obtain a better education.

If anyone is genuinely curious they can always check out John Stossel’s coverage on education. Like his series: “Stupid in America”

School spending has gone through the roof and test scores are flat.

While most every other service in life has gotten faster, better, and cheaper, one of the most important things we buy — education — has remained completely stagnant, unchanged since we started measuring it in 1970.

Why no improvement?

Because K-12 education is a government monopoly and monopolies don’t improve.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/09/16/stupid-in-america/

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No, the public should not be funding the education of the few and well to do. Pay for your own school. Georgia public schools are really quite fine! All the “compete in the global economy” that drive testing and school rankings, hence the call for state charter schools, is mumbo-jumbo.

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@ C Jae of EAV, 4:02 pm
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@Mary Elizabeth: I have to point out your statement “…..CHARTER SCHOOLS TO SYPHON LOCAL TAX DOLLARS WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY OR OVERSIGHT, WITHOUT ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND WITHOUT EDUCATOR CRITERIA CURRENTLY IN PLACE IN TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS.” is simply an outright distortion of the facts.
===============================

Those words were lifted directly from a notice from my professional educators’ organizations and that large statewide organization should be privy to more knowledge about these issues that either you or I would have.

Also, you left out some key words (”allow private companies that operate”) from your post. Here is what I had actually posted – from my professional educational organization – at 8:18 am:

IF PASSED HR 1162 WOULD ALTER THE CONSTITUTION AND ALLOW PRIVATE COMPANIES THAT OPERATE CHARTER SCHOOLS TO SYPHON LOCAL TAX DOLLARS WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY OR OVERSIGHT, WITHOUT ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND WITHOUT EDUCATOR CRITERIA CURRENTLY IN PLACE IN TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS.”

——————————-

That is not to say, as I read those words that every “private compan(y) that operate(s) charter schools (would) syphon local tax dollars without accountability or oversight” but that HR 1162 would open the possibility that some private operators of public charter schools might do that. In fact, I recall having read, recently, that a private company, which had run a public charter school, had used public funds which could not be accounted for. There was a problem which caused media attention.

In terms of the academic accountabiltiy, public schools throughout Georgia are mandated to have certain academic standards fulfilled, hence curriculum guides and end-of-level tests in curriculum areas, statewide. For several summers during the 1990s, I taught summer sessions within my county for students who had failed to pass state-mandated high school graduation tests for social studies, science, math, and English. These were statewide standards that every public school student was mandated to have achieved for high school graduation.

If some charter schools are given too much flexibility – and flexibility is one of the tenets allowed charter schools (and that can be a positive thing for innovation) – they might be allowed to establish their own criteria for curriculum and mastery of it. That might be ok for innovation, but that possibility of variance of standards in various charter schools needs to be watched and assessed, closely, by local school boards, and not by a Statewide Commission for Charter Schools that is not even elected, but appointed, which may carry political interests. Different charter schools, conceivably, could have differing standards based upon parents’ concepts of mastery instead of those of professional educators, which are been approved by Georgia Department of Education through the local school systems. Each case for unique charter schools could be different, but the possibility of uncoordinated accountability and inconsistency of standards might exist with charter schools. We would be wise to be aware of that possibility of disunity of quality among charter schools before that possibility might be allowed to become a problem. Not all charter schools are excellent, of course, and, once opened, they are difficult to close.

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Interesting, considering that schools in countries with the best education results, such as in Finland, are government monopolies.</em

To the contrary, as anyone who watched the Stossel documentary would know before mis-speaking. Where money follows the student in Europe, the kids outperformed our American who they called kids stupid.

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Again, you do the math.

So when did they start teaching math in Atlanta?

I can just imagine the multiple choice questions, If you busted Grandpa’s head open , took his wallet and it had a ten, a five and two dollars in it, how much money would you have? a) 15 bucks b) more than my dad, who ever he is c) enough to get wasted tonight.

And, of course, no answer is incorrect.

But the union teacher would flunk the test, anyway.

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If you want to sign a petition for HR 1162, see this link. It will be forwarded to 19 house members:

http://www.change.org/petitions/yes-to-school-choice-in-georgia-hr1162

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Our founding fathers were well-educated, exquisitely knowledgeable in statecraft & political philosophy. Out Constitution established a Federation of States only for LIMITED PURPOSES. In the 19th century, progressives took control of public schools & teachers’ colleges. They conditioned teachers & children to abandon our Founding Fathers’ enlightenment philosophy of reason, fixed principles & Judeo-Christian ideals & replaced them with a new ideology. The progressives view public education primarily as a tool for social & cultural indoctrination.

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I just posted the following on Maureen Downey’s blog regarding the same topic – HR 1162. A thank you to Kyle Wingfield, for allowing me to repost my comments on his blog, also.

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“The term (special schools) was not intended, according to the Court, to create “a carte blanche authorization for the General Assembly to create its own general K-12 schools so as to duplicate the efforts of or compete with locally controlled schools for the same pool of students educated with the same limited pool of tax funds.”
__________________________________

The above statement, from the post by Ms. Downey, summarizes the Supreme Court’s rationale for rejecting the state commission, as interpreted by attorney Thomas Cox.

OK, let’s use a few key words to cut to the heart of that statement.

“. . . General Assembly. . . create its own general K-12 schools (charters) so as to . . . compete with locally controlled (public) schools for the same pool of students. . . with the same limited pool of tax funds.”
———————————————–

That sounds, remarkably, like trying to dismantle traditional public schools for charter schools. Some charter schools can be run by private operators. And who runs Georgia’s Legislature, primarily? Majority Republicans.

And. what is one major, national, Republican ideological agenda? Answer: To cut government in all areas, especially “government” public schools for other models, even private sector business models.

And, what other bill has Republican Rep. Jones sponsored besides HR1162? Answer: HB 664.

HB 664 states that “commission charter schools may exclude teachers from the Teacher Retirement System of Georgia.” It does not state that “commission charter schools may give those commission charter teachers a choice of TRS” participation. That bill uses the words “may exclude teachers from the TRS. If teachers numbers are reduced in the TRS, then that fact would certainly cut the state’s government responsibility to public school teachers. It would, also, satisfy a national Republican ideological agenda.

Do we really want a State Charter Schools’ Commission, which is appointed not elected, to make these important decisions regarding assignments of charter schools, using local monies previously used for traditional public schools, when legislators who support this Commission are not educators themselves, yet they do have a common ideological vision for education? We must think through what we may be doing to education in Georgia, long-ranged. Has anyone in the Legislature thought this through, in depth? Look at what happened to Florida’s public educational system when legislators wanted to dismantle it.

I think we should move slowly with charter schools. I think we should improve traditional public education, and not think in terms of dismantling public education. We can improve public education by letting local school boards determine how many charter schools should be allotted in their districts. Let those charter schools innovate for more effective individualized instruction and, then, let them share their findings with their local traditional public school systems in order to improve, not dismantle, our public schools.

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Mary Elizabeth,

Why are you afraid to try anything new to improve our educational system?

How long has it been since you had an office in a school system?

If your Professional Educator Organization changes its mind, will you follow behind them and do the same?

What is the point of telling us about the many blogs on which you have posted your information? Does that make it more accurate?

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The new konservative idiotology is to blame all of society’s ills on public schools – and the bogey man Obama, of course.

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If you’re sending your children to public schools, you really ought to be ashamed of yourself.

And possibly arrested for child abuse.

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Now Linda, I’m not trying to intimidate you, dearie.

I just think your tinfoil hat is on too tight blockin’ the blood flow to that pointy little head of yourn. And I’m just havin’ a little fun at your expense – heckfire, you’re on here day and night slandering decent people right and left, all I’m doing is having a little fun pointin’ a little back at ya.

It’s all good.

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Mr.Trash @ 9:54 & 9:58, It’s amazing what collective prayer will do for a person who believes he fell off the turnip truck.
I feel sorry for anyone who believes that they will be stuck in the ground after death until the end of the earth. What a pitiful existence! Can’t you see that there is a higher being than the politicians in DC?

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Charter Schools are just another Republican plot to defund and dismantle our public school system. The Republicans have never supported the public school system. First the Republicans will advocate for charter schools. Then they will drain all the money from the public schools. Next they will demand that the school buildings are dismantled. Then the Republicans will cut off funding for the charter schools. Results = no school system. There is no such thing as a bad school. There are however bad teachers, bad administrators and ignorant, stupid tea party Republicans on the school boards.

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See what I said about these progressives on this blog today?

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To those opposed to Charter Schools in Georgia – Everyone says how good their school is yet our state ranks in the bottom nationally. Do you not want better for the children of Georgia?

When Charter Schools fail they close. When schools run by the government fail, they continue on getting pass after pass.

My charter school considers all their children “gifted” and the teachers work to find the “gifted” in each child. They then have a personalized learning plan for that child so he/she may excel at what they do best which gives them the self esteem to work harder at what they struggle in. They also have accelerated studies for the category of students the government deems gifted.

For those of you that will tell me “if I want a better education for my child, pay for it”. I pay taxes, my childs father pays taxes, my parents pay taxes; I AM PAYING FOR MY CHILDS EDUCATION and your childs.

Our children deserve better.

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This is clearly a polarizing issue. I just don’t understand why anyone would consider shutting down a high performing school. My understanding is that Ivy Prep and Fulton Science academy had amazing results. They do not cost more to run – in most cases they run on a fraction of the funding that the local BOE schools do.. That just seems illogical to me.

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Mary Elizabeth – no one thinks that Charter schools are the only answer. And should we even start going into all of the scandal and abuse that Local School Boards and schools get into EVERY day. Especially in Georgia?!? Not all schools are good. They should be regulated– and if they don’t perform, they should shut down or control taken away.

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I am not saying that charter schools are “bad.” In fact, I think that some charter schools might create innovative approaches to individualized instruction which might be beneficial to traditional public schools. It would be a “win-win” situation if their efforts, in that direction, could be shared and coordinated with traditional public schools. I, also, think we should have our eyes fully open as to what has happened, negatively, within some charter schools, nationally, before assuming that charter schools are “the main answer” to educational problems in Georgia.

I believe in public education. I had worked straight up for 42 years of my life, and 35 of those years I spent in public education, most as an educational leader. I understand public education from the ground up. I wonder how many who have so many opinions about public education, on a blog forum, have spent that much of their working lives contributing to the students and their parents who attend public schools.

Many charter schools, later, become private schools, according to the link I shared above. I do not support vouchers to private schools. I think that would dismantle public schools. I do not want to see our society, again, stratified – but this time by wealth and by class, rather than race. I want to see a society built upon an egalitarian vision of humankind, rather than a hierarchial vision of viewing one another. That is why I believe in traditional public schools. They attempt, at least, to serve all of society’s children, equally, even those not able to attend private or public charter schools.

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I have never heard a supporter of school choice say that charter schools are the only answer. They are one option, one path. By shutting down 1162, they will no longer have that path available because the local school boards MORE than once have made their point that they will not support it. So if you are a supporter of charter schools AS an option, you will support 1162.

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As a teacher that has taught in both public and charter school environments, I find this opinion piece – and its subsequent comments – well…. sad. As usual, where money is involved, there are greedy, lying politicians trying to pitch their ’solution’ to the masses, with nothing but their own selfish motives at heart. If you TRULY believe that continuing to underfund gov’t run public ed in Georgia, while increasing Charters and voucher programs, will ‘fix’ anything in this state, think again. You’re most likely a parent who could give a rat’s you-know-what about any other child apart from your own, or Chip Rogers.

The vast majority of children in every state receives an education at their local gov’t run school. We NEED to serve these children, after all, they are the MAJORITY (if there is such a thing anymore, it seems like the moaning and screaming minority seem to get ‘what they want’ these days). I am much more concerned about making sure the kids at every local public school have resources, educated/experienced teachers, small class sizes, technology, etc. versus sending kids off to private schools because their parents feel as though their pubic tax dollars should ‘follow their child’.

The sad reality is: Georgia is chock full of Republican ‘leaders’ (and I use the term loosely) that have never – EVER – stepped foot in a classroom. Their best bet at ‘bettering’ education is to siphon public tax dollars to for-profit, private entities, because – after all – they are more concerned about Corporate America than ANY of our children. PERIOD.

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@Mary Elizabeth 01/26 7:24 pm – I didn’t include the “allow private companies that operate” portion of your quotation on purpose. In so doing I would have been continuing the myth that only private companies operate public charters in GA, which is false. I don’t deny that the charter movement across the country has given rise to a handful of private firms that specialize in operating charter schools under several slightly differing business models including KIPP, MOSAIC, IMAGINE, & EDISON. The key point I see with most of the aforementioned is that they tend to lean away from running High Schools, which I suggest speaks to something important for us to take note of in distinguishing the real pigs at the trough.

I concur that public charters should not be allow carte blanche to operate without any degree of oversight. As I initially pointed out I believe such a framework is in place to enforce that. I also concur with what I see as an underlying point in your rebuttal comments, which is we must analyze carefully the language of public policy propositions and think thoughtfully through the ramifications of their implementation.

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Parent of Three in Fulton County, 3:56 pm

My heart goes out to you. If you had been in my school, I would have heard you and I would have cared.

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The petition for school choice, which “Parent” posted at 9:09 pm, supports HR 1162. This petition states, in part, the following words:

“Each child is different, and parents should be able to choose between a neighborhood school, charter school, private school or virtual school.”

==================================

I do not support using public tax dollars to send children to private schools. I do not support vouchers. This petition tells me that HR 1162 is political in nature, more than educational, or this petition, which was gathered to support HR 1162, would have been limited to supporting state ordained public charter schools, as is HR 1162. This petition, however, includes the choice, also, of private schools, along with charter schools. Obviously, this petition supports vouchers because parents have always been able to use their own money to send their own children to private schools – that goes without saying. Therefore, there was no need to state “private schools” on this petition, unless the underlying message was to voice support for vouchers, which would transfer public money to private schools, with student transfer therein. This petition, in my opinion, represents an initial attempt to dismantle traditional public schools for private schools (among other school choices) in Georgia.

I saw on “Ed Schultz Show” this evening Schultz’s interview with Robert Greenwald in which Greenwald said that he will be showing, early next week, proof that the Koch Brothers are donating money to 150 colleges and universities across the nation (FSU included) in exchange for determining curriculum and teachers hired in those colleges and universities. This is an example of how private business interests can purchase their ideology within public schools, such as FSU. Using private money to purchase freedom of thought is the antithesis of what education should be, and doint that is the antithesis of what America stands for.

I do not want to see elementary and secondary schools in Georgia being swayed by private business interests for propaganda purposes by those who have investments in them. Students are not to be used as pawns. They are to be instructed in how to think for themselves. That is why we cannot allow our public schools to be dismantled. At present, public schools are paid for by the general public through taxes, not through the private market. And our public schools are not, at present, run by the private market. The corruption possible when the wealthy elite purchase power (and education) is one main reason that Thomas Jefferson was a strong proponent of tax-levied public schools by all citizens, for all citizens, for the common good of society. The following are words of Jefferson, as engraved within his national monument in Washington, DC:

“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” I stand with Thomas Jefferson.

I cannot help but wonder how many of Georgia’s Republican legislators support the Koch Brothers’ tactics and their ideology, which is privatization of public schools. And, I wonder which ones, if any, have attended Koch Brothers Conferences. That information should be public knowledge, as it might determine how people vote for a constitutional amendment in Georgia, such as HR 1162.
Are you listening AJC?

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They are to be instructed in how to think for themselves. That is why we cannot allow our public schools to be dismantled.

Are you kidding? You think most public schools teach children to think for themselves?

Remember, school choice is about YOU as the parent choosing. By supporting limited choices, you condemn many children failing schools.

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