Teacher, Pastor, File Suit Over Language in Charter Schools Amendment

(click headline for full story)

What does this have to do with cell towers?  It is the belief of GTCO-ATL and many others that the cell tower push for our schools is related to an ALEC  initiative to allow private companies take over the education of many of our children through virtual schools.  ALEC is the  American Legislative Exchange Council that allows corporations to initiate model bills to Congress that help them carry out their profit goals often at the expense of the health and safety of our citizens.  ALEC is most well-known as pushing forth the legislation that was controversial for its use in the Travon Martin shooting in Florida which says that it is okay to shoot another human being simply if you claim that you "felt threatened" at the time you pulled the trigger   Since the other person may not be alive to tell their side of the story, and since your feelings about something are really only known to you, this bill is very controversial because, some say, it legalizes murder under certain circumstances that are very subjective.

Since current charter school rules include the fact that there must be a physical site in order to open a charter, the only way for the ALEC plans to move ahead would be to establish a separate authorization board, the charter commission.  This commission will not be responsive to parents as it is not an elective body.  Its members will only need to be concerned with the profitability of the businesses that are assisting with the campaign finances for the few, corrupt Republicans who are pushing through the Amendment with misleading wording that seeks to hide the truth from the voters and trick them into approving it.  The outcome of this lawsuit may determine the future of the charter commission which will, in turn, determine whether or not we will see more and more cell towers pop up in our neighborhoods and on our school grounds, even with the knowledge that the radiation they emit is labeled as a possible human carcinogen with the largest at-risk population being children.

From the Athens Patch  Filed in Atlanta, the lawsuit claims the language is misleading.

• By Rebecca McCarthy

Opponents of Amendment 1, which provides for a Charter Schools Commission, have long criticized the language of the ballot itself as misleading. As an earlier Athens Patch story says,

Senate Democrats criticized the latest move by proponents of a November charter schools ballot amendment today, calling a new ballot preamble "biased, inaccurate and electioneering at its worst."

"As it was written in March, the charter schools question on the November ballot was misleading. The addition of a preamble to the ballot question heightens the inaccuracy," said Senate Democratic Leader Steve Henson of Tucker. "The preamble language adds to the bias and subjectivity of what citizens will be voting on. The language intends to mislead voters in an effort to ensure a specific outcome. This is not democracy."

Now, a Dalton teacher and an Atlanta pastor have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, requesting the amendment not to be enforced, even if voters approve it. The suit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court, according to a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The ballot language and a preamble that describes it are “affirmatively and purposely misleading,” says a lawsuit filed by Rev. Timothy McDonald, senior pastor at Atlanta's First Iconium Baptist Church, and teacher Beverly Hedges, who has been teaching for 22 years, according to the story.

Good Habits Are Hard to Break

copyright 2012

(click headline to read full story)
From the Tucker Patch:

by Cheryl Miller, Get the Cell Out - ATL, 11/6/2012

As just one person, the obstacles standing in the way of a brighter future for our country may seem overwhelming. As a parent, the more I learn about how politics operate in Georgia, the more concerned I become for my child and her future.  

But, as a proud voter today, I am reassured when I see the long line outside my polling location. Maybe I'm not alone. Maybe my vote will count. Maybe there are other people who, like me, are learning that the first step toward change is to stand up and let your voice be heard.  

I have voted in every Presidential election since I was 18. And, I have taken my child with me to the voter polls every time I have voted since the day she was born. Yes, it might be a little more hassle, but usually the people in line are very understanding and even smile if she decides to do a little spin or dance move to fight off the boredom that comes with waiting in line. And she is always thrilled when the nice people give her a sticker on our way out the door.  

copyright 2012

Along with teaching my child to brush her teeth, eat her vegetables and wear her seat belt  I'm doing my best to instill another good habit in her while she is still young and impressionable and has to do what I tell her. That good habit is voting.  

I hope that showing up to vote will one day seem as natural to her as saying thank-you or looking both ways before you cross the street. I want it to be one of those things that you just do, no matter what. It can be very discouraging when we, as adults, think about the many issues surrounding us and the corruption that has found its way into so many of the government positions we used to hold in such high esteem.  

My child has witnessed her father and I battle against the public school system, fight to get a bill in front of state legislators to keep cell phone towers off our school grounds, hand out flyers and post yard signs for local politicians we believe in, and speak to the media on a variety of subjects that have concerned us. She knows we are involved in our community and that we do not always share the same opinions as others. But, what we have started ourselves really stems back to our love for her and our desire to make sure the world is a safe and happy place for her.  

copyright 2012

So, beyond what I can do for my child right now to take care of her basic needs, I'm also trying to teach her the importance of being a good citizen, a good neighbor and a faithful voter. Our freedom is often challenged and may feel fleeting at times, but I will take what we have right now over what life could be like if we lived in any other country.  

If you have children, I encourage you to vote today and take them with you. Explain to them how they are expected to behave to make sure they are as respectful at the polls as they would be in church or at the library. It doesn't really have to be a big deal for the lesson to sink in. It is just something you need to decide to do on a regular basis, so the process becomes a good habit. 

Your vote is more than just your voice. It's our future.

ALEC's Next Generation Charter Schools Act Exposed

This is what Amendment One in Georgia is all about. Please read and join those of us who are informed so you can vote NO on Nov. 6.

It is not about charter schools. We already have them. It is not about an appeals process. We already have that, too. It is about money and a battle for your child's mind. If you do not trust the people who practically legalized murder with the "Stand Your Ground" laws, then why trust them to educate our future generation?

The state of Georgia continues to rob our schools of funding, removing $100 million a year from DeKalb to redistribute to other school districts. Now they want to remove even MORE money while telling parents their kids will be better served by staying home, attending school online with teachers from out of state who are underpaid and overworked and bringing lawsuits against their corrupt employers.

Don't let Georgia become the next state to make this costly mistake! Just because the Amendment says "charter" does not mean it is for the good of the children. And, just because our current school board has failed us, doesn't mean we can't work together to elect more responsible people in 2014.

Amendment One will remove your right to elect the people making decisions about schools by granting the Governor the right to appoint a council to approve charter schools even when our local board is against the idea.

A commission was formed and then found to be unconstitutional, but their track record speaks for itself. They approved schools that may be functioning well today, but only because they had to modify their charters to comply with the law after the commission was deemed unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court. The commission was approving schools that discriminate against students, limit their allowable attendance zone and turn away students that do not fit their model. That's not the spirit in which charters were founded and will not help children who are in the greatest need. The commission was approving a re-segregation plan for Georgia, based on sex, economic class, and whether or not the children have physical or mental limitations.

If you do not want your tax dollars to go toward a plan that will help other people's zip codes while bringing harm to the rest of the county, please vote NO on Nov. 6 or during the early voting period taking place right now!

Thank you!


2D4-Next Generation Charter Schools Act Exposed

Scientists of the Bio-Initiative Report Call Out the U.S. FDA

Provided by: Neha Kumar, India. (clck headline for details)

Get the Cell Out - ATL is proud to have met many people during the battle against cell towers on school grounds in DeKalb County, GA, and around the greater Atlanta area. While we expected to speak with other active communities in the U.S., we didn't expect to meet people in other countries! But, we recently received an email from India saying that they were encouraged by our fight.  They wanted to share some of the great work they have done to convince their government to reduce the level of background radiation from towers and education the people. 

From a presentation made by Neha Kumar, India.

Among the important literature they have shared with us, this letter to the FDA, dating back to 2010, stood out to us because it was calling out those who should have known back then that cell phones and cell towers are dangerous, especially for children. Yet, here we are in October 2012, moving forward in a sneaky fashion, likely to install cell phone towers without proper notice and without admitting the truth that is behind them.

UNLESS WE VOTE NO TO THE CHARTER SCHOOL AMENDMENT ON NOV. 6, virtual education is on its way to mainstream classrooms, you can bet on it. The infrastructure is being laid as these words are being written. The gadgets have been purchased. Without a sound educational plan to back it up, our school system is soon to embark on a huge financial investment that will, in the short term, help the bottom line of some equipment manufactuers and education outsourcing businesses that are not even based in Georgia.

In the long term? Our children will likely not be any further ahead than they are now. Since people learn best from other people, it is a very difficult challenge to expect children, especially the very young, to succeed in a school that requires a large amount of self dicipline and motivation. 

And those families without the knowledge, time or resourcess avaiable will be unlikely to know how tto help their own children understand the homework, deal with technical difficulties, impart the lessons of taking care of expensive electronics, prevent theft and damage or even know what it is that is being taught. Will it be worth the money? For some, maybe. Will the children understand when they get sick who did this to them? Will we ever be able to forgive those whom we know were involved? What will we think of ourselves?

 

It is right around the corner so it is time to start thinking about all the possible outcomes, not just the immediate gratifications.  It will be here soon.  Regardless of your politicial affiliation, you have to object to seeing innocent people run over by laws, legislators, burocrats and CEOs, helpless to stop dangers from popping up at their own child's school, or next door to their own home putting their health and financial welfare in jepordy.
And, if your child is one of the one's affected, how will it feel to know this letter below, and likely many others, were written but fell on deaf ears?

The Interphone study referenced in the letter below was an industry-funded long term study that showed some significant increased risk in cetain types of cancer, yet the cell phone industry covered it up. 

Other countries immediately changed their standards for safe emissions upon the release of this study.  Others waited until the WHO backed it up with a warning of its own.   

What is the U.S. waiting for?  Maybe they are waiting to hear from YOU! 

Scientists of the BioInitiative Report call out the FDA! “All-clear” Wrongly Issued on Brain Tumor/Cell Pho...

Charter Schools: Dialogue Between Dumb, Greedy and Corrupt

Virtual Charter Schools? What the Amendment is Not Telling You.

(click headline to read more...)

 

Is this what you were expecting from the charter school amendment?

From The Tucker Patch:  http://tucker.patch.com
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 12:25 am

 

 

Are there people out there just waiting to start charter schools but somehow cannot get them approved? 

 
Are there really charter schools that can operate on only the state's portion of the funding?
Who are these people and what kind of schools are they wanting to open here? 
 
Changing the state constitution is a big request. Before we vote on Nov. 6, let's make sure we know exactly what is at stake. 
 
Here's one possible scenario:

"Gee, I wonder how we can start a charter school without a building or enough money to pay lots of teachers," says nonexistent person #1.

"Yeah, and the 13 other charter schools, dozen or so magnet and theme schools, IB program schools, technological schools and neighborhood schools are just not enough. By golly, I need another choice," says fictitious person #2.

"I have a solution," says slick dressed K-12 or "Connections Academy" or "Other New Online School" sales and marketing representative.

"Wow, you look really smart," responds bozo actor #1.

"That's because I am," says the K-12 associate with his General American dialect so as to not give any clue to the fact that he is from out of state, or even another country.

"Have you considered a virtual charter school? Here are some fancy pamphlets I just so happen to have on this high gloss, heavy weighted paper stock, so you know you can trust what is typeset onto its pages."

"Yeah, we thought about that," says well paid spokesmodel #2, "but our local board of education will never approve something like that. We tried and tried to get them to approve a school with a promise of less than 50% graduation rate and a high drop-out after less than a year attendance, but they didn't like that idea. And they have really low standards."

"We can appeal to the state board of education, but they keep telling us we are broke and need to close schools, not start new ones. I'm guessing they wouldn't overturn the decision."

"Looks like we're stuck with the multiple options to choose from that we already have now. Plus, all the church-based schools and community schools. We are in the Bible Belt, after all."

"Don't forget about the private schools, honey. And the home school options," says the Man #1.

"Oh yeah, that's right. We have those options, too. Plus a state run online school and a local cyber-academy."

"Awwwww.... that's too bad," says Mr. K-12 man. "I have an idea for a virtual charter school that I need to sell to someone stupid. I thought you might want to try convincing a bunch of parents who don't know any better and like the idea of free laptops to sign their kids up! Their moms or dads will likely be expected to stay home with them, of course."

"What makes your school better than others?"

"We were first."

"Oh."

(awkward silence)

"And we have better graduation rates than other online schools, but not as good as brick-and-mortar schools."

"Uh-huh."

(Man #1 and Woman #2 start to walk away. But then..)

"Say, did I mention that we make millions and millions in profit? And we hardly cost the school district a thing?" says desperate salesman from K-12. "As long as I can keep signing the suckers, errr... I mean, kids....up, we can keep hiding the actual churn rate of our attendance and bragging about our annual enrollment increases. The more I sell, the more money for me and my bosses."
"Wow, you must be rich!"

"Yes, but don't worry about that. Besides, I have to watch out for some pesky lawsuits coming from New Mexico and Virginia. Oh, and Florida, too, I think."

"Awwww, you poor, misunderstood salesman. It's tough out there, isn't it? Here, let me count how much money you might have in that wallet for me and my friend here. We might be able to help you out," says greedy snake in the grass #1.

"What's your idea, Jim Bob?" says idiot actress #2.

"Well, the way I see it, we can help each other," says paid actor #1. "I have this friend who is in the state legislature. You know, the people who make the laws n' stuff. I will tell him the problems with the local school board and ask if he can help me start a virtual charter school."

"Once he hears about all the money, he'll surely say yes!" says doll face #2.

"Right! And then he can pass a law that says that some kind of a fake, made-up, overpaid board of people can approve our virtual school. Then we can hire Mr. K-12 here to run it for us and we won't have to worry about things like walls, ceilings, or teachers. We won't need libraries, or a football team or even books.  Think of how cheap this could be!"

"Then how will the kids learn?" says suddenly concerned accomplice #2.

"Who cares? Didn't you hear the man say he make lots of money?" says childless man #1.

"Yeah, but... I don't...."

"If we get the state to appoint a board and let them approve schools, then we can probably get a bunch of money, too!! You know, just like they promised the PTAs that kept quiet about the cell towers. Come to think of it, what ever happened with all that ... "

"But the kids..."

"Ma'am, don't worry about the kids. They will be fine. If they do not keep up, we have friends in the private prison industry who will be happy to take them in. They also make lots of money. Not your kids, of course. Other kids. Ones you won't even see because the school is online, remember??" says drooling K-12 representative as he gets out the contracts.

"Oh, I see. But, won't this take money away from the other schools?"

"Yes, some of it, but we will take a lot of the kids away, too. So, that local group of elected folks will actually have fewer kids to pretend to be educating, until ours start dropping out, of course, and returning to their local schools. But we will have the funds up front. That's all that really matters to us. See, It's a win, win!"

"Except for the kids...."

"Yeah, yeah, the kids," says the man #1 as he signs the contract. "There's always THAT, but ... think of all the money! As soon as the plan gets rolling, you will have enough to put your kids in any private school you want, so who cares what happens to the charter after that? We'll be long gone before anyone notices that the drop-out rates are alarming, some of the teachers aren't certified, some classes have as many as 400 students in them at once, the money goes out of state to help a business stay out of Chapter 11, the people can't threaten to vote for a new board since they were appointed, or that the kids are only using their computers to play games and cyber-bully their friends. And, if one gets lost, dropped or stolen, their parents have to reimburse us for 3X what it cost us. Remember, this is GEORGIA. We're #49th in the nation for education. There is no way the people here would ever think of all of the possible outcomes. They are all stupid."

"Wow, honey, you are a genius."

"Yeah, I went to community college for a year before I dropped out."

"Do you think the people in Georgia might vote NO to Amendment 1162 on Nov. 6?"

"Not a chance. Remember, Mr. K-12 is putting lots of money into the advertising. And people here will believe ANYTHING with a fancy slogan. Remember 'Untie Atlanta'? Oh wait... well, that was different... this will be different. It's for the kids."

"Okay, if you say so. Thank you Mr. K-12!"

"Don't thank me. Thank your legislators for joining The American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, so they can further the profit-generating ideas of big businesses like mine instead of protecting the rights of the people like they were elected to do. You can read about them here."

"And, we can thank our uninformed, easily misled or generally apathetic voters for not showing up at the polls even for a Presidential election," says smug man #1 counting his money.

"Yes, and thank you to K-12 and Connections Academy, T-mobile, ATT and all those sneaky little people behind the scenes who have quietly been laying the infrastructure to make this all possible while they thought we were not paying attention," says woman #2 as she books her plane ticket to Hawaii.

"Thanks are in order all the way around," says man in new leadership position of heading up a charter school for the kids #1. I can now say that I helped bring two great ideas together - profiting off the low achievement and lack of parental involvement in my community and a way to use technology to give the appearance of real education to an entirely new generation of families."

"And, by piggybacking off the national obsession with charter schools, we can use the good reputation of that phrase to trick voters into approving HR 1162 on Nov. 6. Funny how a country can be at war protecting freedom while at home they are willing to just give their rights away."

"Funny?"

"Well, not funny ha-ha. More like funny / sad."

The "No's" Are Stacking Up Against the Charter School Ammendment

Background:  At GTCO-ATL, we are wary of the charter school ammendment as well as the push to support it.  While we had still not formed our own opinon, some pretty hefty opposition came forward, most notably from the state Superintendent, Dr. John Barge. 

As we looked into the role of ALEC, most from what we learned on the website www.alecexposed.org, we found that a similar model bill was created by ALEC in their education task force.  The ALEC committee includes the private company (not a Georgia business) K-12 which already handles the students in the state of Georgia who have opted for a home-school, online program alternative.  It is also co-chaired by David Cascas, a Republican from Gwinett County who is in the state House of Representatives. 

As a reminder, ALEC is not a governmental group.  They claim to be a charity that does not lobby, but rather is a social organization with members of congress as well as corporate executives who wish to spend their down time toether.  In reality, these groups meet, develop model legislation that support the business initiatives and cut the voters out of the loop completely.  The state representatives and senators take the model bills back to their states and try to pass them.  It is their objective to privative education.  In other words, they want to take as many of our tax dollars and divert them toward private companies that will profit, by their stated objectives and entire reason for existence.  As the trend has been lately, that means those private companies will pay out big bonuses to their top executives and CEOs and not create new jobs or reinvest the money into the local economy.  In fact K-12 has absolutely no reason to invest in our local economy as they are not even based in Georgia.  They are based in Baltimore, Maryland.  Maryland is currently listed as one of the richest states in the U.S.

So, how does the charter school bill play into this scenario? 

Well, if we give the state the power to set up charter schools, the first one they will set up will likely be a virtual school that will be run by K-12.  So, that's fewer teachers employed here and more money to the bottom line of a Maryland business with a CEO who already makes a half a million dollars a year.  If the virtual charter does better than our current schools, then more students will likely be sent there, either from home or by watching classes on TV in school with a lower salary employee, not necessarily a teacher, watching over them. 

Our money will leave DeKalb, take a short stop at the state for a little payoff, and then exit to Maryland.  How will that help our local economy?  It won't.  How will that impact our neighborhood schools?  It will likely result in closing many of them.  What harms property values?  Closed, abandoned schools would definitely be on the top of that list.  So would cell towers.  But, if your school system is headed toward state control, state charters and virtual learning, the first step would be a cell tower so that the kids can turn in their homework while using their laptops or tablets to connect to the school intranet. 

We've wondered for a long time if the cell towers were about more than money.  If they were only for the money, then the people making the deal would have tried harder to get a better deal.  What T-mobile agreed to pay is less than they normally pay in commercial areas and we're actually helping them avoid paying their property tax.  If anything, they should be paying our schools a lot more!  So, if it is not for the money, as Paul Womack insisted in a public meeting last September, and it is for the coverage, then why does the school system care about cell tower coverage? 

If those things sound like they might be related to one another to you, as they do to us, then we suggest that you consider a "NO" vote on the charter ammendment.  We do not need more hands on our money or more schools trying to grab funding when our existing schools are failing.  We need to get back to basics, elect quality board members and stop spending money that we simply do not have.  Children need role models, mentors and help learning from real people.  They have plenty of time to play with their gadgets and talk on their cell phones, if they have them.  While in school, they need to be focused on learning, the same thing our school system leaders seem to forget they should focus on as well.

With that in mind, here is a recent posting from our friends at the Unhappy Taxpayer and Voter organization in DeKalb County, one of our most trusted partners in the cell tower opposition.  Knowing that they feel the same way we do only enforces our belief that this ammendment requires serious consideration and is most likely a bad idea.  If you feel differently, we invite you to please comment in our feedback section so we can evaluate both sides to this debate.

 

 

Summary of Unhappy Taxpayer and Voters' Position

on the Charter School Ammendment  Proposed for the State of Georgia.

Chime in with Your Vote in the November Election!

On August 14, 2012, State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge (R ) released a statement about the constitutional amendment (HR1162) on charter schools due to be voted on November 6th and he stated the following:

“I fully support the continued creation of high quality charter schools for Georgia’s students, but after careful consideration of what is best for all of Georgia’s students, I have decided to take a position in opposition to the constitutional amendment that will be on the November 6 ballot.

Until all of our public school students are in school for a full 180-day school year, until essential services like student transportation and student support can return to effective levels, and until teachers regain jobs with full pay for a full school year, we should not redirect one more dollar away from Georgia’s local school districts – much less an additional $430 million in state funds, which is what it would cost to add seven new state charter schools per year over the next five years (the annual average of the Charter Commission that would be revived if the amendment passes).

I cannot support the creation of a new and costly state bureaucracy that takes away local control of schools and unnecessarily duplicates the good work already being done by local districts, the Georgia Department of Education, and the state Board of Education. What’s more, this constitutional amendment would direct taxpayer dollars into the pockets of out-of-state, for-profit charter school companies whose schools perform no better than traditional public schools and locally approved charter schools (and worse, in some cases).”

http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/External-Affairs-and-Policy/communications/Pages/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?PressView=default&pid=54

If the Republican State Superintendent John Barge has decided to take a position in opposition to the Constitutional amendment (HR1162), why are our elected officials claiming that no money will be redirected from our local school systems. There are a large number of school systems demanding additional state funding for their local school system (such as DeKalb County); yet, the state has not provided additional funding. The state of Georgia has extra money to finance an additional commission to oversee the charter schools?

 Where is the money and who will pay the bill?

The voters will decide whether the state or the local school boards will have the ultimate authority to approve charter schools on November 6^th. The serious question boiled down to local control vs. state control. Why? The Georgia Charter Commission members will be appointed by Governor Nathan Deal (R ). If the referendum passes, the Georgia Charter Commission will make the final decision on charter schools instead of the local school boards or State Board of Education.

Why should DeKalb County parents and taxpayers care?

DeKalb County has a long history of being a donor county. Over $100 million dollars were removed from our school district since 2006 under the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula (better known as local 5-mill share) and redistributed to school districts throughout the state. Despite serious budget shortfalls, teachers with pay cuts and furlough days, as well as school teachers and personnel working without a pay raise for over five years, the state wants the taxpayers and voters to believe they can locate over $430 million dollars to fully fund the Georgia Charter Commission without causing any harm to the funding sources of local school systems. Once again, where’s the money to fund the $430 million dollar price tag for the Georgia Charter Commission?

Year Local 5-Mill Share (QBE) State Revenue Received

2011 129.0 323.3

2010 117.4 352.7

2009 120.1 357.0

2008 112.4 387.9

2007 107.4 383.8

2006 101.9 326.6

 What are our elected officials saying about HR1162?

State Representative Rahn Mayo held an informative discussion at the Community Achievement Center on August 21^st on the issue of charter schools. Several questions were asked concerning the funding of the Georgia Charter Commission (HR1162). However, no answer was given to explain where the $430 million dollars would come from to finance the re-established agency (if referendum passes Nov. 6). We must also remember that if $430 million dollars is located, how will we address the funding shortage local school districts are presently having with the QBE formula?

There was not one DeKalb County Board of Education member on the panel; however, there were two members to attend the meeting – Jay Cunningham and Donna Elder. Representative Mayo had a member from the Henry County Board of Education on the panel and a long supporter of charter schools, Representative Alisha Morgan. Representative Morgan reassured everyone that no money from local school systems will be used to finance the Georgia Charter Commission. Once again we asked, “Where will the $430 million come from?”

We also asked about the $100+ million already removed from DeKalb County School System. Would the money for the charter schools come from funding under the QBE formula or another funding source? We have yet to receive an answer. However, we have included a link to Rep. Mayo statement on charter schools in support of HR 1162: http://youtu.be/-2yOVltgU6c and Rep. Morgan statement: http://youtu.be/JMfe9DBLFXw

Virtual Schools on the Horizon in DeKalb? The Answer is Yes, if State Legislators Have Their Way!

(click headline for full story)

Virtual schools and real profits: Industry shapes state policies

2:44 am September 5, 2012, by Maureen Downey

 

Will DeKalb's future classrooms look more like this?  Look out
for the upstart of more online charter schools, funded with the same
tax dollar allocations but without all that pesky overhead!  More money
for top level administrators, less money to actually help children learn.

The AJC "Get Schooled" blog (excepts in article below) shows a disturbing trend
 toward a school type that does not appear to be supported by any true results.

 

The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram published an impressive investigation on a trend that we are seeing in Georgia:  For-profit online k-12 schools “aiding” legislators in writing laws that create a demand and favorable climate for their product.

One of the changes pushed by the for-profit online sector: Statewide requirements that all students take at least one online course. We saw that effort here in Georgia.   Senate Bill 289 initially mandated that all Georgia high school students complete at least one online course starting in 2014.

But as passed and signed by the governor, the law says districts have to make online courses available to their students and increase options for online learning.

The law states:

The State Board of Education shall establish rules and regulations to maximize the number of students, beginning with students entering ninth grade in the 2014-2015 school year, who complete prior to graduation at least one course containing online learning.

(some text here omitted ... if interested, you can read the complete story here)

The Portland newspaper probe also looked at the performance of students taking online courses:

In Pennsylvania, where some 30,000 students are enrolled in virtual schools at an average cost of $10,000 per student, pupils scored 13 percent worse in reading and 24 percent worse in math than students at ordinary public schools, according to a 2011 study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes. The researchers broke out the data for separate student groups — those poor enough to qualify for free or reduced lunch, those still learning to speak English, grade repeaters, blacks and Hispanics — and compared them to their counterparts at ordinary charter schools. “In every subgroup with significant effects,” they reported, “cyber charter performance is lower than the brick-and-mortar performance.”

The Stanford study may have helped prompt The New York Times to conduct an investigation of K12 Inc.’s virtual charter schools later that year, which concluded that the company “tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards.”

At the K12-managed Agora Cyber Charter School in Pennsylvania — which reportedly generated $72 million in revenues — the Times found: 

• 60 percent of students were behind grade level in math,
• nearly 50 percent were behind in reading and
•  a third were not graduating on time:

“Hundreds of children, from kindergartners to seniors, withdraw within months after they enroll.”

The company spent $681,000 lobbying in the state between 2007 and the end of last year.

Whenever posters here (AJC's Get Schooled blog) question online education, industry folks complain that they are resisting innovation and defending the status quo.  But lobbyists writing laws that promote and protect the interests and profits of their industries over the well-being and welfare of taxpayers should be resisted.

The investigations by the Portland papers and The New York Times will be followed by similar exposés across the country. And the reason is simple:  For-profit education, whether k-12 or college, has two goals that can end up at odds. One is to educate students and the other is to make money. When the latter lags, the former suffers.


Online learning certainly has a growing role in education, but that role can’t be defined by the industry. It has to serve the education needs of students rather than the profit margins of providers.

–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog