Charter controversy continues

Charter controversy continues       

Education officials in Georgia are still debating the pros and cons of charter schools over traditional education system models.

            The issue gained more national attention in May when the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the 2007 law that created the Georgia Charter Schools Commission was unconstitutional. The court stated the commission unlawfully granted the state authority to approve and fund charter schools over the objection of local school boards.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the ruling affected 16,500 students by voiding the operating agreements with 16 charter schools. Tony Roberts, president of the Georgia Charter Schools Association, told the AJC that the court’s decision was a travesty.

“The majority of the Georgia Supreme Court has just found 16,000 innocent children in Georgia guilty of choosing a better education,” Roberts said. “And even worse, the justices have sentenced them, in many cases, to failing or inadequate schools."

            According to a NewsMax article, former President Bill Clinton has been a long-time supporter of charter schools, and the number of charter schools increased by 2,000 during his presidency. There are currently 113 charter schools in Georgia.

Clinton was the keynote speaker June 21 during the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools conference in Atlanta. He said government influence on education needed to be limited because the public no longer had trust in the government.

“People have given up on us because it looks like a food fight most of the time,” he said during his speech. “This is not about ideology. It is not about theology. It is about what we can do to give our kids a brighter tomorrow by putting our country back in the futures business.”

The U.S. Department of Education released an evaluation report in 2010 on the impacts of charter schools. The study evaluated 36 charter schools in 15 states from 2004-2006. The analysis found that charter schools serving more low-income or low-achieving students had statistically improved math test scores. But charter schools serving more students with higher income or higher achievement had statistically negative effects on math test scores.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools website states that charter schools close the achievement gap, offer students smaller class sizes and provide better opportunities for students who live in underserved communities. WSB Atlanta gives a local charter school a closer look in this video.

            “The recent ruling by the Supreme Court is unfortunate because it makes it more difficult for these high-performing schools to reach families, but it won't stop Georgia parents from demanding more high-quality public charter school options,” said Peter C. Groff, president and CEO of NAPCS, in a press release.

            While the U.S. Department of Education study found that charter schools did not have a statistically significant impact on student achievement, it did find that charter schools positively affected parent and student satisfaction with school.

In response to the Georgia Supreme Court ruling, the Georgia State Board of Education granted 11 of the 16 affected schools State-Chartered Special School status. The remaining commission schools will come before the board for the new status at a later time.

“Today’s action by the State Board ensures that the students affected by the recent Supreme Court decision will still get to go to the school they originally chose,” State Superintendent John Barge stated in a press release.

The Georgia Department of Education defines a charter school as a public school that operates under a contract approved by the local board of education. The contract allows the school to request waivers from state requirements giving it more flexibility in exchange for greater accountability with performance objectives.

But each state feels differently about the concept of what a charter school should be. The Center for Education Reform conducted a survey in 2008 on adults and their attitudes toward charter schools.

State-by-State Highlights California: Seventy-one percent of respondents (vs. 69 percent nationally) preferred having choices of schools other than the one to which a child is assigned based on where the child lives. Connecticut: Twenty-six percent of respondents (vs. 20 percent nationally) correctly identified charter schools as "public" schools when asked to pick from a list that also included private, religious or parochial, and magnet schools. Georgia: Sixty-two percent of respondents (vs. 59 percent nationally) supported the concept of "considering student performance when deciding how to compensate teachers" and agreed with the idea that "a teacher whose students actually perform well would receive a higher salary and additional financial rewards." Missouri: Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they would be very or somewhat likely to move their child out of a school if the child felt unsafe. New Jersey: The words "Accountability" and "Innovation" resonated most with respondents being viewed favorably by 88 percent and 82 percent of respondents respectively. New York: Seventy-one percent of respondents supported "allowing communities to create new public schools - called charter schools - that would be held accountable for student results and would be required to meet the same academic standards/testing requirements as other public schools but not cost taxpayers additional money." Wyoming: Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed feel that more than one group (beyond local school boards) should have the authority to create charter schools.

SOURCE: The Center for Education Reform