A proposal pending in the Georgia Legislature would force Atlanta charter schools to help pay off a public school pension debt, despite a court ruling that relieved them of that obligation.
The measure would change the state law the Georgia Supreme Court relied on when it ruled in September that taxpayer money designated for charter schools can’t be used to pay for school system-wide expenses like pensions.
Georgia Charter Schools Association CEO Tony Roberts said charter schools would suffer if they were required to make payments toward a pension system they get no benefit from. Charter school employees don’t participate in the pension system for educators working in Atlanta’s traditional public schools.
“It’s so important to stop an additional takeaway for those pensions because it could move a good deal of those charter schools toward closure,” Roberts said. “Their teachers never got any advantage from it whatsoever, and now they’re being asked to help shoulder the bill. It just doesn’t seem right.”
Atlanta school administrators have argued that all schools in the district share services, and charter schools shouldn’t be exempt from having to deal with the school district’s pension burden, which exceeds $500 million and has been building since the late 1970s.
“Atlanta Public Schools is strongly advocating for the passage of HB 680,” Associate Superintendent Steve Smith wrote in an outline of legislative priorities obtained through an open records request by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This bill would legally allow the district to share its financial liabilities proportionately with all schools.”
The outline was dated Nov. 4 but never publicly presented to the Atlanta school board. APS didn’t respond to a request last week to confirm whether Smith’s comments continue to reflect the school system’s position.
While the legislation likely faces long odds because many Georgia lawmakers support charter schools, if the bill passes, it could widen the gap in per pupil spending between traditional and charter schools. Charter schools would receive less money if the Atlanta school district withheld pension costs from their funding.
Atlanta’s school system invested about $13,000 last fiscal year in each of its traditional school students compared to about $10,000 for each charter school student, with the difference in funding largely caused by administration, pension and transportation costs, according to an analysis by consultant Robert Stockwell.
One representative who initially sponsored the bill, Rep. Margaret Kaiser, D-Atlanta, said she now opposes it.
“Charter schools should not get favorable treatment, but I don’t think you should be able to go back retroactively and hold them responsible for a debt they weren’t part of incurring,” said Kaiser, a member of the House Education Committee.
Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, said the bill will get a hearing in the upcoming legislative session, which starts Jan. 13, and he’s in the process of reviewing it.
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