Your morning jolt: The question behind charter schools fight
After his House Education Committee passed out a charter school bill late last week, chairman Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, showed up on GPB’s “The Lawmakers” and declared some changes were underway:
”One of the concerns that many [opponents] had – they were afraid that local money would be taken. But we changed that….we talked with hundreds of board members and superintendents, and what we did – we took that out. This will be just state money going to the school, and we also changed the constitutional wording so it was more acceptable.
The question is whether, if a local school board rejects a charter school application, a state commission can serve as a court of appeals. And if the state grants the application, whether local funds should be directed thereto. Local boards consider that an intrusion on local control.
First, about the wording of HR 1162. Misdirection is a traditional part of constitutional amendments placed before voters on the November ballot. Questions are often high on salesmanship, but low on specifics. Here’s what was first proposed:
”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?”
Here’s what they meant to say, and what is in the current version of the bill:
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local
approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?”
What wasn’t passed out by the House Education committee last week was HB 797, the enabling legislation that accompanies HR 1162. According to political strategist Bill Crane, this is the phrase that has torpedoed HB 797: “[A] local board shall create an environment in which a variety of public schools can flourish when the community or parents request them.”
I count at least four hot spots in that phraseology. “Environment” and “flourish” are both fuzzy words that could mean everything and anything. “Shall” is the imperative that removes any wiggle room for school boards. And then there’s “when.” There’s an implication here that “when” the community or parent requests, the local board must comply.
Word is that the rewrite will include Democratic participation on a new Charter Commission. But the basic premise is likely to remain the same, Crane says, and would still allow the state to re-direct local funds if they grant a charter school charter, over the objection of the local board of education.
***
State Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, this afternoon will unveil an ethics bill that would include a $100 cap on lobbyist expenditures per event – but would allow a $750 limit for travel, meals and accommodations related to conferences and speaking engagements.
His bill would also change the name of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission to the State Accountability Commission. Seems like nobody wants to return the agency to its original title: the State Ethics Commission. Who knew that the word “ethics” would become a pejorative?
***
On the national front, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Mitt Romney with a wide lead – yet still lagging among core GOP constituencies:
Overall, 39 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents support Romney (or already backed him in a primary or caucus), his best showing in Post-ABC polls since last summer. Newt Gingrich clocks in at 23 percent, with Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul garnering 16 and 15 percent apiece.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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© 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
46 comments Add your comment
clyde
February 6th, 2012
9:39 am
It just shows to go you that politicians are willing to allow themselves to be bought for one hundred dollars.I wonder how low they’ll actually go??
Romney has an uphill climb among conservatives.Looks like another 4 years with Obama.Conservatives just can’t bring themselves to vote for those nasty moderates.They’d rather stay home and watch another 4 years of devastation.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
9:43 am
@clyde
yeah things were so much better with BUSH…9/11, 2 wars that cost trillions and fought for nothing..IRAQ citizens dont look at us as freedom fighters but as a corrupt christian army butchering their citizens…i guess u miss those “?good ole days”
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
9:55 am
CHARTER SCHOOLS are magical and cures baldness, cancer and arthritis…lol
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
10:04 am
@liberalelfty, do you not know of a single public charter school that works?
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:10 am
raquel
charter schools are like public schools..a few are excellent a few are terrible and the rest are mediocre
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
10:11 am
liberalefty,
I completely agree. So, if some “are excellent”, what is the problem with creating more?
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:16 am
raquel
excellent schools are in good neighborhoods…and u know it….u put a charter school on BANKHEAD/SIMPSON rd. area and u will have a GHETTO charter school, but at least the kids will have nice uniforms..
double
February 6th, 2012
10:21 am
Anyway grouping charter schools with the tea party?Appears they both are failures.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:22 am
school sucess is a product of their students/parents/neighborhood…
td
February 6th, 2012
10:24 am
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:16 am
SO you are saying “GHETTO” charter schools can not be successful because the students are incapable of learning and will be “Ghetto” no matter what the efforts?
SouthGATeacher180
February 6th, 2012
10:28 am
It is interesting that Arne Duncan and company are willing to do anything to circumvent the 10th amendment to the US Constitution…they only way to do that is to starve states and local schools of cash if they do not become charters and vow to teach the Common Crap Standards ( which have no achievement data). I find it ironic that the GA Republicans will be instrumental in implementing Obama’s national education agenda by changing GA’s constitution…wow.
td
February 6th, 2012
10:30 am
iberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:22 am
school sucess is a product of their students/parents/neighborhood
I will agree with you that until the parents decide to value education and instill those values into their children then money or curriculum is not going to matter because these students will not excel in the classroom.
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
10:30 am
Lefty,
You must not have children. If you did, you would know that there are committed and motivated parents from all sides of the socioeconomic equation. You just need to peek from behind your iPad long enough to see them.
Because you’re not really as interested in this issue as you are in espousing talking points, you probably don’t know that there is a lot more to charter schools than uniforms. Public charter schools have the flexibility to create their own curricula. They can work with engaged parents to develop programs that are effective for their children. Public charter schools can also work quickly to change course when a particular method does not work.
There are charter schools across the country that flourish in ghetto neighborhoods and are full of black and brown faces. There are even charter schools in some not-so-nice areas of Atlanta that are doing well. Wherever you have committed and motivated parents, children succeed. Parents (even poor, Black and Brown ones) who are motivated enough to seek the options that are best for their children create learners.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:36 am
td
basically yes because the students are a product of their parents, and in the ghetto most kids only have one supportive loving parent{mom}and an absentee uncaring father…these students are at a disadvantage moreso than 2 parent students are..on top of that the black men they do see are drug dealers,junkies,hustlers etc which means their community is unstable and chaotic ..unstable chaotic homes lead to unstable chaotic neighborhoods which means unstable failing school
td
February 6th, 2012
10:39 am
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
10:30 am
While I agree with you about the fact that parents are the key to student learning I disagree with you about the entire Charter school movement. I think Charter schools sets up the long term effect of ensuring we will have large groups of students never being able to succeed in the educational process because the parents that do care will all place their children in the charter schools and only concern themselves with those schools and stop pushing other parents and politicians to improve the overall educational experience.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:40 am
raquel
i would like to believe that but i dont…but if one ghetto charter school suceeds does that mean the other 99% who dont is doing something wrong?..or are they a product of their ghetto neighborhood?
UGA 1999
February 6th, 2012
10:41 am
Options….always give parents options!
things conservatives hate
February 6th, 2012
10:49 am
kids should be required to go to the closet school to their house
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
10:54 am
@td,
Do you have children? While the long-term effects you mention are a legitimate concern, it’s difficult to make that argument to parents who are rightfully concerned with right now. We are the parents of a four-year-old. While I want all of the children in our area to get an effective public education, I do not have the luxury of waiting for the neighborhood school to get its act together. My child deserves the best educational option we can secure for him right now.
If embracing public charter schools results in the removal of all but the lowest students from the neighborhood schools, then maybe the traditional schools will then be able to give those students what they need. I don’t know what the answer is for the children of unconcerned parents (maybe making classroom volunteer hours a requirement for government assistance), but you should not be allowed to sentence my child to failure because you’re concerned that public charters will work too well.
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
10:58 am
@liberal lefty,
I don’t accept your premise that only 1% of public charter schools are performing well for our children. Visit any of the KIPP Schools, Imagine Wesley, or Kindezi in Atlanta. You will see engaged teachers (on their feet, by the way) and equally engaged children. There is real teaching going on (hands-on, experiential learning), not just CRCT prep. These schools are in middle and working-class neighborhoods, and they are economically diverse.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
10:59 am
kids should go to the school nearest their homes…
UGA 1999
February 6th, 2012
11:02 am
liberalefty…Why?
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
11:09 am
uga
because the neighborhood school is the closet to their house…why ship students across town when a school is within walking distance…
Wondering
February 6th, 2012
11:11 am
If charter schools are so great and local school systems are so corrupt, we should disband all school systems and let the DOE charter all schools. While your at it, watch were the money flows. Most charter schools that aren’t conversion charters, hire an outside firm to run the school. These firms are not required to disclose budgets or salaries, but they usually have lower pay for teachers, so where does the money go?
UGA 1999
February 6th, 2012
11:11 am
Liberalefty…..Because what if that school is sub par to another school within that district. Shouldn’t parents be allowed to place their kids in a position that will best help them succeed? Education is not about convenience….it should be about quality.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
11:11 am
i dont blame the white parents for not wanting their kids going to school with a bunch of poor black kids..i’m black and i know this might sound racist but its the truth…another dose of truffiness …lol
findog
February 6th, 2012
11:14 am
Thomas Paine is rolling in his grave.
I thought that republicans approved of the maxim, “that government is best which governs least.”
So much for local control, so much for no “one size fits all top down governing”, so much for principals…
td
February 6th, 2012
11:15 am
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
10:54 am
I am the parent of a 15 year old and a 11 year old. Both of my children are good students and both have attended what others would call underachieving schools. My 15 year old has a learning disability and still has a 3.5 GPA. He has struggled at times and we have had to do a great deal of extra work but he has still been successful. You are the key to your child’s success or failure during the educational process. You can be just as involved in the a public school as you can in a charter school. The teachers in public and charter receive the same college education and the core curriculum will be the same. The difference is in a Charter school you may be able to not be as involved and not as alert of the school as you would be in a public school.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
11:16 am
uga
why dont the parents in the community with the failing school help their schools suceed?dont water down the sucessful school because another one is failing…the sucessful school is sucessful because of the parents, now you will get kids with parents who dont giva hoot about their kids education going to school with kids whose parents do…
findog
February 6th, 2012
11:23 am
Soft prejudice of low expectation was the high point of compassionate conservatism; reform costs money and all we got from W and Ted was highfalutin words and tests.
UGA, they have options – don’t like the elected school board’s decision move!
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
11:24 am
@Wondering, we have already acknowledged that just like traditional public schools, some public charter schools are excellent, some are abject failures, and the rest are mediocre.
Is your main concern here money? Where does the money flow with respect to traditional public schools? Bloated Central Office salaries and consulting contracts. Are you more comfortable with that system?
td
February 6th, 2012
11:31 am
UGA 1999
February 6th, 2012
11:11 am
Liberalefty…..Because what if that school is sub par to another school within that district.
We agree the vast majority of time but I think we may disagree on this subject. How is a local school sub par? Is it the test scores of the students? Because the average test score is less then another school in the district does that mean the student of an active, involved parent will be different in either school?
I will submit that you could put 100 students in a classroom with the worst teacher ever in the Walton HS district in East Cobb and those students would learn more then in any school district where parents are not involved.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
11:33 am
take kids from a ghetto school{SIMPSON RD} put them in the finest school in all of BUCKHEAD, and in 3 months u will have a failing BUCKHEAD school…take those kids from the BUCKHEAD school send them to a ghetto school and in 3 months u will have a sucessful school in the hood…IT AINT FREAKIN ROCKET SCIENce folks…its REALITY, as unpleasent as it is
td
February 6th, 2012
11:34 am
findog
February 6th, 2012
11:23 am
“reform costs money”
How does reform cost money? How will money solve the problem of the parent that is not involved in educating the child?
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
11:36 am
@td,
I appreciate your comments and kudos to your family for all that you are doing. As a very successful product of public schools that others would have labeled as failing, I know the role of our household in determining our child’s future. However, I prefer to have my child exposed to as few of the children whose parents are unmotivated as is possible. For us, a public charter school represents the best option for surrounding our child with other motivated, engaged children and their parents.
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
11:37 am
why dont school board admit that bad schools are the result of bad neighborhoods,uninvolved parents and students who dont care???? why cant they admit this truth…no amount of charter schools can fix the problem of unstable households..
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
11:45 am
raquel
i fail to see the difference between a good public school and a good charter school…and if charter schools are so great why doesnt every school district want them..every president has tried to fix the school system but it comes down to stable loving parents not more nice sounding programs to ensure that a school is sucessful
Raquel Morris
February 6th, 2012
11:53 am
liberalefty,
I agree that there is no difference between a good public school and a good charter school. Since my neighborhood public school is not good, I would like the option of sending my child to a charter school that is.
honested
February 6th, 2012
1:13 pm
Empowering ’start up charter schools’ with State Taxpayer Funds external to the existing school board authority will only exacerbate any existing ‘bad school’ problems.
Additionally, the charter model proposed in the amendment does more to allow use of State Funds for those who want nothing more than to set up essentially private schools with arbitrary admission requirements.
Why not take a novel approach that does not require any Constitutional Amendment, ADEQUATELY FUND SMALLER CLASS SIZES AND ADEQUATE ADDITIONAL SPECIAL SERVICES. That way, all of Georgia WINS.
findog
February 6th, 2012
1:17 pm
td,
The reforms of no child left behind cost money, more testing, ect.
The federal government failed to fund their mandate aka another unfunded mandate
findog
February 6th, 2012
1:25 pm
Raquel, might I suggest one of the many fine private schools in the area; or you could move to where there are schools that meet your individual wants, as compared to the basic needs the local school is providing.
What would fix schools is the return of corporal punishment.
Quit sparing the rod and spoiling the children.
honested, don’t worry they will just rewrite the HOPE law to cover these additional schools; therefore not needing to raise taxes
Nick
February 6th, 2012
1:51 pm
@liberal lefty
I fail to see the difference between a good public school and a good charter school…and if charter schools are so great why doesnt every school district want them..every president has tried to fix the school system but it comes down to stable loving parents not more nice sounding programs to ensure that a school is successful
This is an area where ‘we’ I include myself because I am liberal are wrong. Charter schools are given more flexibility which allows them to do things public schools can’t to increase their quality. School districts don’t want them because they are more concerned with funding and money sometimes than actual education performance. Parental participation is often a popular requirement used for admittance and continued attendance in school. Research everywhere shows this as the #1 factor to children’s success in school. If these models are working, and there is evidence that they are, then why not try more of them. We should try anything, Charter schools, Race to the Top, or any other idea that may lead to the educational success of our children. No options should be off the table.
UGA 1999
February 6th, 2012
1:55 pm
I am back.
UGA 1999
February 6th, 2012
2:00 pm
liberalefty…..should students be forced to go to college where the campus is the closest?
liberalefty
February 6th, 2012
2:34 pm
uga
college isnt mandatory
ornej
February 7th, 2012
11:38 am
Not a teacher, but my daughter teaches at a Title 1 school. The vast majority of the students have parents that care, but don’t have the education or resources to help their children in the same way as a well-educated, financially secure home. Many work too many jobs to donate the time required for admission to charter schools, and don’t have the means to transport their child. Charter schools are under no obligation to enroll students with disabilities or with behavioral problems. Public schools take ALL students. The schools aren’t on an equal playing field. Charter organizations contribute heavily to lawmakers to garner support, individually and through PACS. Buy a politician and he’ll get you a charter school free of students who speak a different language, students with disabilities and students of different enthnicities. Even though you can afford it, you won’t have to pay for private schooling because your paid-for politician will insure the money is taken from the public schools. After all, who cares about the kids with problems? It’s not a big secret what the charter schools promote and it’s not a better education!