Recently, hundreds of people packed in a school auditorium heard a Cherokee County school board member boldly proclaim: “If you parents don’t like the education our school district is providing for your children, then you should move out of Cherokee County!”
As the school year begins in earnest, this is crystal-clear proof that our state needs an alternative charter school authorizing entity, such as the now-defunct Georgia Charter Schools Commission, struck down three months ago by the Georgia Supreme Court. The 16 schools approved by the commission and 18,000 students served by those schools were forced into a scramble for their futures.
Some went back to their home school districts seeking approval. Two were approved, two — including Cherokee Charter Academy — were denied and two were not even allowed to plead their cases for approval by the districts. The majority, including those that had been denied by their local districts, decided to seek approval from the state as state-chartered special schools at a drastically reduced funding amount than they received last school year as commission-approved schools.
Fortunately, last month Gov. Nathan Deal, state school Superintendent John Barge and members of the state Legislature decided to forward fund eight of the bricks-and-mortar state-chartered special schools for a portion of the amount lost by the demise of the commission. Cherokee Charter Academy, which opened its doors this week, was one of the eight.
This one-time cash infusion will still leave the state-chartered special school revenues approximately 15 percent short of the amount they would have received operating as schools authorized by the commission. Yet, despite this and all of the drama that has occurred in the time since the ruling, some have inexplicably opined that the fateful decision made by four of the seven state Supreme Court justices would not hurt the charter school movement in Georgia. This is totally untrue and designed to remove the attention of our state legislators from this very real problem.
Today, our organization will make a presentation to a special state subcommittee charged with examining Georgia’s school funding mechanism. The inequitable way in which charters are funded and the refusal of most school districts to adhere to HB 555 — a 2009 law that obligates school districts to allow charter schools to use school buildings not currently being inhabited by students, at no cost to the charter school — speaks volumes about the continued threat to the existence of charter schools in our state.
Indeed, charter schools are the only public schools in our state forced to spend operating revenue on their facilities. On average, charter schools in Georgia spend $631 per student on facilities costs. For the average charter school in Georgia, with enrollment of 373 students, this translates into $235,363 — enough to hire more than five new teachers.
If we expect our charter schools to perform at the highest levels, they must be undergirded with equitable funding on a par with all other public schools. This can only be accomplished through the development of a permanent funding mechanism that is fair for charter schools, through forcing uncooperative school districts to comply with HB 555, and through the establishment of an alternative authorizer.
We owe it to our children to demand what is best for them individually, including charter schools, even in the face of public officials who insult their constituents and belittle their parental wishes, whether those officials are Supreme Court justices or a local school district board member.
Tony Roberts is president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Charter Schools Association.
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