Georgia's 2012 Amendment 1
I love school choice, and I like charter schools. Two of my children have attended charter schools. Back in 2009, I thought Gwinnett County Public Schools was wrong to deny a charter to Ivy Prep, an all girls charter school in Norcross. When Gwinnett's Board of Education turned down Ivy Prep, I thought the school ought to have some recourse.
The state overruled Gwinnett County, and Ivy Prep opened its doors, leading to a constitutional fight. The Georgia Supreme Court eventually decided the state didn't have the power to set up an unelected body that could spend local taxpayer dollars against the will of the body responsible to the taxpayers, the BoE.
(I note here with consternation this whole mess could have been avoided if the Gwinnett County BoE had given Ivy Prep a chance. There are lots of bad guys in this story)
The solution seemed simple enough: let the voters pass a Constitutional amendment, and then elect a state board that could review rejected charter school applications and have the authority, subject to the checks and balances called elections, to grant charters.
Did our Governor and legislature opt for that approach? Absolutely not! Using language that is twisted six ways to Sunday, they put on the ballot an amendment that would allow Governor Deal to pick his own people, put them on the review board, and allow them to spend taxpayer dollars with no accountability or oversight whatsoever.
Shouldn't we trust the Governor to pick the best folks? As Exhibit A, I submit the new president and CEO of Georgia's lottery. The lone finalist and unanimous pick was Governor Deal's budget director, who had absolutely no prior experience with lotteries. That's not counting, of course, whatever lottery tickets she's bought over the years.
Amendment 1 raises several questions. Do we need more school choice? Yes. Should publicly funded charters be part of the solution? Indeed, they should. Should we trust an unelected, unaccountable body to make the best choices about how to spend our tax dollars? Uh, no.
Amendment 1, as currently worded, is no solution. And unless you think bureaucrats who are well connected to Governor Deal are the people who should be making decisions about our children's future, you should vote "No" on Amendment 1.
Let's try again in 2014. This time, though, let's ask Georgia's government to put forward an honest proposal that keeps the power with the people and protects their ability to reelect or defeat government officials who make decisions about their money.
posted by Lee Brewer Jones @ 7:55 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
All politics is local. We choose to homeschool the Kid. We also enroll her in The Georgia Cyber Academy. GCA is woefully under funded - in part due to this current Amendment 1 mess. I make this observation based on our very positive experience with The Texas Virtual Academy. TVA had more state & local money because of Texas' Robin Hood system.
If local BoE's operated more like the European or Asian model WITH tracking, I think parents would be slower to jump to charter schools. We as a society know there are differences in intelligence, skill and apptitude. Cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all, NCLB policies don't work. I'm tired of interviewing candidates that can't write or calculate simple interest.
Local BoE's are cowardly in their admistration. They suck on the federal teat and follow NCLB as if it were inspired by a Higher Being. They don't serve us nor our children. They serve to get re-elected. Tracking would show leadership. The worst/best day at university was when an honest professor told me I was too stupid to understand calculus (this, during my 3rd attempt) and helped me withdraw from the school of arts & sciences and enroll in the school of business.
Parents too, share the blame. Too many of us abdicate our responsability for our children's education & formation. We drop them off at Kindergarten and want them back 13 years later job or univerity ready. We don't want to accept that we need manual, skilled and intellectual work forces. Tommy may not have the skills to be a doctor; but, may make a darn fine technician. We should begin tracking somewhere in the 6th - 8th grade. A well educated & formed workforce is needed.
My view is not popular. That is OK since I will never stand for office (unless there was unanimos acclaimation as King of the World.) Local BoE's need to adapt to laize faire economics or be prepared for us to take our money and control back of our childern's education. You & I attended a good public school; yet NHS did not serve all of our school mates well - some were left behind.
Local BoE's had a chance - they blew it. As the father of an exceptional child who would fail with colors and honors in a traditional school, I will vote to support passage of amendment 1. All politics is local. None more local than the Griffin home. I want GCA to have more money and need the Governor to be able to wrest it from the local BoE.
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