Hundreds expected at rally for school choice

By D. Aileen Dodd

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Parents, students and supporters of school choice will rally Tuesday to push state lawmakers to expand educational options for Georgia families.

The event will join together unlikely allies -- public and private school leaders --  in a display of unity outside the Capitol steps on Washington Street from 10 a.m. to noon. Hundreds are expected for the rally, which will urge lawmakers to expand scholarship opportunities so parents can better afford to pick their children's schools.

Private school leaders are expected to ask the state to raise the $50 million cap on the tax-credit scholarship that has helped hundreds of public school students transfer to private schools. Charter school officials also are expected to ask the state to support the continued funding of their campuses, which faces a state Supreme Court challenge from a handful of Georgia public school systems.

The rally comes as the country celebrates National School Choice Week. Busloads of students will travel to the event from campuses across the metro area.

David Pusey, director of a Center for an Educated Georgia, said more metro Atlanta parents appear to be concerned about choice than ever before, especially with accreditation problems at Atlanta Public Schools. Regional accreditation officials recently put APS on probation because of problems with how its board operated. High school students are caught in the crossfire.

"The kids are trapped in a crisis situation," Pusey said. "They have to be helped and they have to be helped right now. There is a generation of kids who are trapped in schools that are not meeting their needs."

Losing accreditation can affect students' scholarship eligibility, including Georgia's HOPE scholarship, college acceptances and federal funding. APS, which has 11,900 high school students, has through September 2011 to address governance issues that led to its probation. Some parents have said they do not want to wait until then to find quality schools for their kids. They plan to shop for other public schools including charter campuses.

According to a recent state report released by the Georgia Department of Education, some charter schools continue to outperform their local neighborhood campuses. The state's 121 schools educate more than 62,300 students, about 4 percent of all Georgia students.

“School choice is important so that families can find the best option for their child’s education,” said Renee Lord, president of Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education, who has two cyber charter school students and a daughter who graduated from private school. “If the money could follow the child, then parents would have the freedom to pick and choose.’’

Eighty percent of the state's charter schools achieved adequate yearly progress goals for students as outlined by the federal No Child Left Behind law while 77 percent of non-charter public schools made AYP.

Some student's whose test scores improved at charter schools will speak at Tuesday's rally.

"Georgia is lagging behind nationally in academic achievement," Pusey said. "If we don't catch up to the rest of the world we are going to fall behind even more. We can't afford to do that. We need change and we need change right now."