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).”
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 6th. 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 21st 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
