Seven school superintendents will join forces today in a pivotal lawsuit that challenges the future of Georgia charter schools.
The Fulton County Superior Court battle over power and money could begin to unravel a network of new state charter campuses just as National Charter Schools Week is being observed.
At issue is a tug-of-war over local control of public schools and funding for students.
The school districts -- Gwinnett, Atlanta, DeKalb, Bulloch, Candler, Henry and Griffin-Spalding -- have sued the state because they question the constitutionality of the Georgia Charter Schools Commission and its ability to approve and fund charter schools. School district leaders have complained that the state commission takes money away from their students in tight budget times and gives charters to petitioners that the school systems have rejected.
Commission-approved charters receive a mix of federal and state dollars, plus a controversial share of local matching funds. Those funds are carved from the state allocation of the district a charter student leaves behind.
"They are saying it's state money and it's not local money, but it is in direct proportion to what those students would have raised in local dollars" had they remained in the school district, said Lewis Holloway, superintendent of Bulloch County Schools. "The tight economy makes this lawsuit even more important."
The state Department of Education and members of the Georgia Charter Schools Commission say they are simply doing what the law allows -- providing parents and students the option of school choice. Since the commission began doing business, nine new charter schools, including two existing campuses, have been approved.
“The state's position is that the commission set up by the General Assembly is constitutional,’’ said Russ Willard, spokesman for the Georgia Attorney General's Office. "These charter schools are authorized under the state constitution and state law. We are confident in our position that we will be arguing before the court.’’
Stefan Ritter will serve as the state's lead counsel in the case, which names as defendants Georgia schools Superintendent Kathy Cox; the state Department of Education; the Charter Schools Commission and its board members; and two charter schools, Ivy Prep Academy of Norcross and Statesboro's Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts & Technology.
The schools are the first commission charters to receive local matching funds.
Gwinnett's school system, leading the lawsuit, alleges that the commission illegally approved and funded Ivy Prep with money meant for district students.
Ivy Prep, a girls school of about 300 students, receives matching funds of about $1.2 million from the home districts of the students it serves. About $850,000 of that money is being taken from the Gwinnett system, which anticipates furlough days for teachers and cutbacks to balance its budget, which has a deficit of about $115 million.
“My client respectfully does not believe that school was created and is operating pursuant to Georgia law," said Mike Bowers, a former state attorney general who is representing the Gwinnett system. "The constitution precludes any school from being under the supervision of anything other than an elected school board. It precludes any creation of a new school system. All of these things have been done through the creation of the state charter schools."
However, students at Ivy Prep see things differently. Some will carpool to the Fulton County Courthouse to get a seat in Superior Court Judge Wendy L. Shoob's courtroom to hear complaints against their school.
Zoe Nuhfer, 13, will be covering the case for her school paper, The Ivy Vine.
“I think we have an extremely good chance of winning,” she said. Sixth-grader Briah Bass will be there in spirit. "We found a way to make a school legally; they can’t say it’s illegal because we found a way to go around them,” she said. "It's America."
Students from the Statesboro charter school, known as CCAT, also will attend. The school received about $367,000 from Bulloch schools' state allocation, and about $1,567 in state funds is being withheld from Candler County.
CCAT head of school Kathy Harwood said the money helped to pay the bills and keep the doors open. The teachers got a raise. Now they are being paid according to the 2007 Georgia teacher's salary scale instead of the 2006 scale.
"We feel like we have a good case," she said. "Certainly the money has made our life easier. From what our lawyer tells us we are going to head to the Supreme Court any way it goes."
If the state ultimately loses the case, hundreds of students could lose their schools.
"Georgia is in need of a whole range of options for students, especially charter schools," said Tony Roberts, executive director of the Georgia Charter Schools Association. "Charter schools in Georgia have already shown that they can raise the student achievement levels and graduation rates. My question is, why would anyone want to stop something that is working?’’
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