Charter School Advocate and Mom Will Vote No

North Fulton mother says she found local control was critical after finding problems while her son attended Fulton Science Academy.

  Georgia is in the midst of an intense debate over a proposed charter school amendment that will be on the ballot in November. Whatever your position, you need to read my story. The polls predict this amendment will pass with flying colors, thanks to a misleading ballot question and a majority of funding from outside the state. If this amendment passes, politics and corporations will shape our schools. Groups with multi-faceted objectives are lining up to grab their market share. If a state controlled charter school comes to town, you will have no recourse if there is a problem. Why Local Control is Critical The problems I encountered at Fulton Science Academy were not anticipated by our local and state board of education or by educators …

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Letter to the Editor

Charter Teacher, Parent Asks Voters to Support Charter Amendment

Pataula Charter Academy in Edison serves five southern Georgia counties.

Dear Editor, I am writing as both a parent of students who attend a charter school and a teacher who works at one. The school I speak of is Pataula Charter Academy (PCA) located in Edison, Georgia. This is one of the controversial schools that was created by approval of a state commissioned board rather than the local school boards. Now we are in danger of having our doors closed unless an amendment to the constitution is approved in the November election stating that it is legal for a state commissioned board to approve charter schools when local boards refuse. I am urging everyone reading this to please vote yes to this amendment. PCA serves students in five counties. All five of the local school boards of the counties that we serve …

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MP

10:28 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012

R Thomas - Continued - Do you believe that we should have an appeals court? Does that take away "local control" of the courts? Of course not, and if you ended up on trial unfairly, you'd want an unbiased court that had the authority to free you. Local boards wil leave the opportunity to approve/deny charters in their districts - they get the first bite of the apple. The ONLY reason a charter …   more ›

Milton's Jan Jones Receives Charter Schools Award

The Georgia Charter Schools Association recognized her for supporting public charter schools, including sponsoring the House bills that put the state charter amendment on the November ballot.

House Speaker Pro-Tem Jan Jones, R-Milton, was honored with the 2012 Charter Schools Impact Award by the Georgia Charter Schools Association (GCSA). The award recognizes Rep. Jones’ leadership in the Georgia General Assembly and her ongoing support of Georgia’s children by supporting public charter schools. In presenting the award, Tony Roberts, president and CEO of GCSA said, “Always a leading advocate for public education in the General Assembly, Representative Jones has sponsored numerous bills designed to give more public schooloptions to the children of Georgia.” Most recently she sponsored HR 1162 and HB 797, two initiatives that re-establishthe state’s role K-12 education in Georgia and helped place the charter school constitutional…

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Philip Beck

8:27 pm on Sunday, October 14, 2012

....Conclusion by NEA: "As indicated at the outset of this Policy Statement, charter schools have the potential to impact positively, or negatively, on public education-and this in turn will depend on how such schools are designed and operated. In the final analysis, whether any particular charter school law-and the charter schools that are established pursuant to that law-passes muster must be …   more ›

Former Senator Responds to Patch Blogger with Call For State Charter Support

Ember Reichgott Junge was discussed by Elizabeth Hooper in her recent blogs, and now he offers his own opinion.

As the Democratic lead author of the first charter school law in the nation, I am pleased to be in Georgia this week to support Georgia charter legislation and the constitutional amendment on the November ballot!  Passage of this amendment by the people of Georgia will allow Georgia to catch up with most of the other 40 states and District of Columbia  in ensuring that your charter law allows the public school choices that Georgia students, parents and teachers deserve.  While every state’s law is different, there is one fundamental component of every law that allows choices to flourish—the inclusion of an alternate authorizer or appeals process that doesn’t disadvantage the chartered school. Your support of the constitutional amendment …

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Georgia PTA 'Cannot Support' Charter School Amendment

It "has major concerns with the ... impact it will have on Georgia’s 1.67 million public school students," according to a statement from the group.

Under pressure from its national organization to rescind its opposition to a controversial amendment that could restore the state's authority to approve and fund charter schools, the Georgia Parent Teacher Association reaffirmed its stance. "We cannot support this constitutional amendment which will create an inequity in funding, siphon funds from local public schools where the great majority of the students in Georgia receive their education and deny parents meaningful engagement," the group said in a statement released late Friday. "Georgia PTA strongly opposes this constitutional amendment." In July, the state chapter made its position clear: Vote no when you go to the polls in November. While the Georgia PTA supports charter schools …

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Kids First

1:21 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012

Each charter school, local or state approved, submits an audit to their authorizor each year. That authorizor knows what the books look like. The charter schools division at the GaDOE will review them regularly and keep the commission or local authorizor informed on their performance. Finally, and Frank you really need to stop posting this on every GA Patch in the state, the schools are not …   more ›

GA Charter Schools Group Offers Petition Workshop

This intensive, one-afternoon workshop helps groups develop quality charter petitions and how to set up governing boards.

So you want to launch a charter school but just aren't sure how to do it. Not to worry, the Georgia Charter Schools Association will present Charter Development 101, a workshop for individuals or groups interested in starting a charter school. The workshop will be held on Friday, July 27, from 1-5 p.m. at 600 West Peachtree Street, Suite 1555, Atlanta, in the 12th floor training room.  The session will be taught by Elisa Falco, GCSA’s Director of Education & Training, and a former charter school principal. "We certainly will discuss what some of the challenges are in some of the communities and even in Georgia right now," Falco said. She wants to reach groups starting out who don't know how to do outreach or the researched needed for the …

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State Board Denies Fulton Science Academy Middle School Charter

Board members criticize the school's Governing Board and management over noncompliance, bond issues.

Fulton Science Academy Middle School lost its appeal to the state Board of Education for a charter this morning, so the school will be closed in July. The school's charter through Fulton County Schools expires June 30. Angela Lasseter, a representative of the school's Governing Board asked the state board to wait 30 days to make their decision so all the information could be heard and documents read. "It impacts so many of our parents, including me. "Hearing both sides and all of the documentation is critical to making an informed objective opinion," she said. But the board members said Department of Education staff have been working with the school's administration for months, ever since the December 2011 charter renewal application …

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MarkMunoz

3:11 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012

Tom they have heard from the community and Wells Fargo and auditors. Stop and choose your battles wisely, you are losing credibility because of your link to Gulen's interests in Azerbaijan.   more ›

Speakers Boost Charter Schools at Public Forum

Speakers show the positives of charter schools at the DoubleTree Hotel in Roswell on Tuesday night.

Speakers at an education forum on Tuesday night at the DoubleTree Hotel in Roswell suggested that a healthy system of charter schools would improve the quality of all Georgia schools through competition. “Maybe 10 percent [of students] will attend a public charter school outside of a home [districted] school,” said State Rep. Jan Jones, Speaker Pro-Tempore. “What it does is it makes all schools better, because there is an option. I mean McDonald’s is better because there is Burger King. Coca-Cola is better because there is a Pepsi.” Jones, R-Milton, cited statistics to show the system needs change. Twenty percent of Georgia high schools have a graduation rate below 50 percent, she said. The panel of speakers - composed of Jones, State Sen…

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From the Desk of Sen. John Albers

Legislative Session Productive, Albers Says

The local senator says tax and education reform and bills said to protect children were successes.

The General Assembly concluded the 2012 Legislative Session at midnight on March 29. This session, Senators were laser-focused on passing legislation centered on fiscal responsibility, limited government, pro-business tax reform, 21st century education reform and protecting our children.   Fiscal Responsibility As part of our ongoing commitment to pass a fiscally responsible state budget each year, the Georgia legislature passed a $19.3 billion dollar budget for Fiscal Year 2013. In addition, the Social Responsibility and Accountability Act, which I sponsored in the Senate, received final passage on Sine Die and will now travel to the Governor’s desk for final approval.  HB 861 requires recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families…

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Letter to the Editor

HR1162: Let the Voters Decide in November

The president of the Georgia Charter Schools Association responds to a Democratic Senator's opinion article about the House resolution.

By Tony Roberts, President of Georgia Charter Schools Association and resident of Alpharetta Senator Vincent Fort, State Representative for Atlanta and East Point, has written an op-ed opposing HR1162 entitled: “Democratic Senator Opposes Charter Schools Measure.”  Sen. Fort says HR1162, which calls for a constitutional amendment, is not about charter schools and is not needed.  He is half-right:  it is not just about charter schools, but it is actually needed for the well being of ALL our public schools.  He also creates the fear that if HR1162 passes, our public schools will suffer, taxes will increase—no good will come of it. This reminds me of an early childhood experience when my grandfather made me afraid to leave the bed at night by…

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