Here’s the key question about k-12 education for Gov. Nathan Deal and his Democratic challenger, Jason Carter: “Should the state continue to send $8 billion a year to local school districts to continue their highly regulated, one-size-fits all, ineffective monopoly, or should it fund new schools started and run by educators and chosen by parents?”
Our current system doesn’t provide all Georgia families with the educational opportunities needed for their children to compete in the 21st-century global economy. According to the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, only nine of 100 ninth-graders in Georgia go on to receive a two- or four-year college degree. For minority students, it’s two of 100.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber forecasts that at least 60 percent of future jobs will require the skills implied by a two- or four-year degree. That explains why Deal, in December 2012, required the University System of Georgia to adopt a plan to ensure at least 60 percent of Georgia’s ninth-graders achieve this goal by 2018.
Given the poor results we typically get from traditional public schools, however, the state is unlikely to reach this goal. What’s the alternative approach?
Ironically, the Georgia Supreme Court provided one answer in its 2011 ruling that Georgia’s first state charter schools commission was unconstitutional. The logic of the court’s decision, which held that local districts had “exclusive control” of traditional public schools, suggests the state has no constitutional obligation to fund those schools.
Additionally, 59 percent of Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2012 authorizing a new state charter commission. Given that amendment and the rationale of the majority decision, I believe the governor and the General Assembly could choose instead to fund, with $10,000 per student, what I call New Schools for Georgia.
This voluntary system of state-authorized, state-funded, public charter schools would be run by educators chosen by families. If the state were to use its $8 billion of current annual spending to transition over the next 10 years to such a system, 800,000 students could eventually attend New Schools. That would leave local districts with $8 billion of property tax revenue to educate the remaining 800,000 children.
In these schools, teachers would be treated as true professionals and allowed to self-regulate, just like lawyers, doctors and accountants. School leaders and teachers would decide who runs the schools, who teaches, who gets hired and fired, and how they’re paid.
Families, regardless of where they live, would choose the school that best fits their children’s needs – whether it’s one of these new schools, or their traditional public school – just as they choose their family doctor.
Rather than regulating every aspect of public education, the state would simply require the New Schools to publish their academic and financial results annually. Either educators would satisfy their students, or their schools would close due to lack of demand.
So, back to Deal and Carter: Which option will they choose?
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