Barge has an ulterior motive for this as he has totally changed his stance on this matter. Is he lying now to better himself somehow, or was he lying during his campaign. I think we have established he is a liar either way.

Part of the problem with the charter schools is that money comes from local school systems to assist those schools. But, the charter schools are not held to the same standard that the public schools are held to. Plus, at $3000 more per child per year (on average) you can't justify the cost.

I'm a parent in Education, and I WANT MORE CHOICES. YES ON CHARTER SCHOOLS!!!

What part about "not better" do you not understand?

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-charter-schools-dont-1350539.html

Barge did not come out against charter schools. He is against the constitutional amendment that is on the ballot in November that would allow a state commission to be created that would have the power to approve charter schools. Local school officials have the ability to approve charter schools - nothing changes there. The amendment is not about charter schools vs no charter schools. PLEASE educate yourself about this issue before you decide how to vote.

North Georgia Weather - will you or will you not address the fact that AYP and standardized tests are NOT THE BEST WAY TO MEASURE THE QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF SCHOOLS? Is it fair that charter schools can escape the ridiculousness of the No Child Left Behing Act while the rest of the public schools are left in the land of bureaucratic nonsense? No!!! But truthfully, as a parent, I don't really care about why my kid was stuck in a school that treated him and me like garbage. I only want to know how to get out of a situation where my child's caregivers and Educators DO NOT PARTNER WITH ME. Especially when we have already proven ourselves as contributors to the da*m district. As test scorers, as socially aware people, as employees.

Honestly, I'm screaming on these blogsites not for my own personal interests, but for THOSE WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND! For those parents who don't have the option of private school or moving! For those who have to work second and third jobs and barely have time to get their kids fed, clothes cleaned, and kissed goodnight. I'm sick of the MACHINE.

Duluth2 - the issue of charter schools is stagnant in our district because they don't have the money to start new projects. They're stuck with running the machine at 80% capacity already, so there's no way they're going to say, "Hey, this machine is not effective even at 100% capacity, let's disable it further by starting a competitive entity. Local School Boards, unless they are progressive, MUST BE CIRCUMVENTED.

flip flop Barge!

Roger That - what is your take here? Why should publicly funded Education not be quality?

AYP is gone AM. Georgia schools are now under the Common Core Standards that are more rigorous than what we had before. AYP was a federal government law which never shoud have been put into place to start with. We will also have a new test to that the place of the CRCT called PARCC (http://www.parcconline.org/)

I can tell you for a fact that our education in Gwinnett is a quality education. I live it every day, as well as my wife who is a SPED teacher. I see the hard work that these teachers do. You want to know the ENTIRE problem? It has nothing to do with teachers or money, it has nothing to do with the type of school you attend.

IT'S ALL ABOUT PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. IT'S ABOUT PARENTS RAISING THEIR KIDS PROPERLY.

You can throw all the other garbage out the window. Kids are coming into our schools with no manners, no respect, a don't care attitude, and from an environment of entitlement. Sorry people, kids aren't being raised they way they use to be raised, ask any teacher that's been around for more than 10 years.

Teachers don't raise kids, you do. Do your job at home before sending your kids to school.

There are some thoughts as to why some charter schools don't do well and many believe it's because of lack of parental involvement. Parents get complacent once their child gets in a school like that, thinking the school can do it all, and it just doesn't work that way.

Funding for charter schools approved by the state of GA definitely will NOT come from local school districts. The legislation guarranteeing no local funding has already been signed.

Is this fair to me the taxpayer who wants efficiency and innovation which produces effective education like Charter Schools? Not really, since my local tax dollars will never go toward the innovation offered by Charter schools and the local district will simply pocket the extra money saved when children and families choose a better fit outside traditional public schools. It's a windfall of money to districts while they don't offer one dime to state-approved charter school students.

And this is a state issue not a Federal DOE issue. The sState of GA budgets more for Education at the state level than most other states. There is no room for increasing state spending on education since it's already maxed out.

Local districts get their cake and will eat it too- then cry that no one gave them the entire cake they believe they're entitled to control.

Access to a quality public education SHOULD be a constitutional right! When the public school that my zip code dictates my child attend doesn't meet her needs, then I should have a CHOICE to put her somewhere that will meet her needs. And that CHOICE shouldn't HAVE to be a private school that I pay for out of my pocket. IF I choose to place her in a private school because the public one doesn't challenge her or provide true learning opportunity (and I mean more than "teaching to the test") then my tax dollars should follow her to the school/district that I put her in. It is ridiculous that my daughter currently attends a charter school which has stimulated her intellectually and challenged her to think critically and analytically yet my tax dollars are still being spent by the public school system that failed her. I AM a veteran public school teacher (still teach in a public university) and I support public school teachers. However, our public school teachers are being pressured to "teach to the tests" --- whatever those tests are and whatever those standards are (Common Core or Georgia Performance Standards). Consequently, students are getting the basics ... they are meeting minimum standards .... the foundation of the house is getting poured but walls are not being built upon that foundation. The result of this will be an unfinished house --- a house (a child) that doesn't reach full potential. SAD.

Am I gonna be the first to suggest that vouchers would solve all this? Then the students wouldn't be held prisoner by some invisible district line. And could attend the school of their choice.

The state supt is obviously owned by the union

I'm wondering when the charter vs. public debate is going to end because there is no debate. Those of you who are supporters of charter schools need to realize that we are all fighting for the same thing, which is local control. If you have already read HR 1162 and support it, you need to read it again because it is NOT supporting local control unless your definition of local is government involvement. If approved, the amendment specifically reads that the state (NOT the parents of the community) will “establish state-wide education policy; restate the authority of the General Assembly to create special schools; delineate types of schools that the General Assembly may authorize and clarify funding authority.” As we have all witnessed, once the state has control of funding, it diminishes rapidly. Furthermore, if the amendment is not approved, it doesn’t mean that all charter schools will have to close their doors; they will still exist and be created, it’s just up to the LOCAL community/BOE to approve them. How can those of you who support this amendment say it is in favor of local control when in fact that is actually the exact opposite of what it is saying? If the state cannot afford to support the local districts now, how are they going to be able support the advancement of charter schools?

Someone needs to help me understand why we need to fund a totally separate bureaucracy unaccountable to no one but those who appoint them when we have an organization( State DOE) in place to do the very thing this commission is being established to do and in fact, does it today. If, in the application to establish a charter school, those forming the entity can document the standards to be used to establish the school, govern the school, hire the staff, provide validation of effectiveness and meet transparency expectations of an institution using public funds, I am fine with their creation. Problem is, they have not in far to many cases and have resulted in those funds being wasted on them at a time when students in established schools fail to get current (<4 years old) books. If we are honest with ourselves we would admit that the problem is not with our schools as established, but with the person in the mirror who expects the school system to not only educate our children, but to raise them as well. This entire matter has done nothing but fracture the community. We should be asking ourselves who was instrumental in bringing about the divisiveness we are now experiencing. I personally believe it to be those who advocate not for the citizens they are elected to represent, but for those who promise to sustain the political existence. I am not a teacher and only have 3 years of involvement left in the existing system, but believe it is worth saving for the overall good.

North Georgia Weather - you're in Gwinnett County - please understand that this colors your lenses. You are absolutely right about kids being different these days. When my husband was in school, they paddled you if you didn't obey. There was no on throwing chairs. I'm not saying that are student populations aren't more difficult to serve - THEY ARE. However, if you are an Educator, you have to go in loving children - all children. You have to show them you care, and then set firm rules with happy rewards and unpleasant consequences - CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT! But it's not a new idea that some teachers' attitudes are terrible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHzTUYAOkPM - from 1947!!!!!!!!!!

Notice that Angela and I have both worked in the school system, and we are both PRO-CHARTER SCHOOLS - because our own children in our own districts were not getting properly served.

@Sarah Jessica - if local School BOEs were so excited about starting maverick reformist charter schools aimed at doing a better job of serving our students and parents, then they wouldn't need this vote in November! The state is ready to do anything to find solutions to our embarrassing failures as a state.

@North Georgia Weather again - how do you explain Georgia's dismal scores as a state? Is it that we just have more unruly, poor children? Is it that we don't want to progress from our punitive values and limited recess time, coupled with cheap, unhealthy food we serve students?

Let me explain the scores...

All scores aren't created equal. The test that Michigan uses (as an example) is not nearly as difficult as the test that we give here in Georgia. Part of this is the fault of "No Child Left Behind". When school systems realized that no one was going to achieve 100% passing by 2014, they started to dumb down their test so they could meet the requirements. Keep in mind that politicians came up with the absurd idea that EVERYONE would pass.

When you look at state scores, just remember you aren't comparing apples to apples. Georgia happens to have one of the toughest test in the country. According to an administrator here, Virginia has the toughest test, Michigan one of the easiest.

It gets worse when you try to compare our country with other countries. Here in the United State, we test all of our kids. In England (as an example), by the age of 15, kids have to choose a path, technical or college. Those that take the college path get tested, those that take the technical path don't. MOST countries do not test all of their kids. China picks and chooses the kids that will go to college and only the very brightest go. Those are the kids that get tested there, the other kids go to work in the fields and factories.

Okay, let's accept that charter schools are more efficient and do the job for less. That means they don't need the same funding level as the local school. Right? I guess that also means that Kelly Marlow and Michael Giest won't try to bully their already identified "weakest" BOE member to approve CCA locally. Right? Marlow, Geist, Dukes and Rogers are all willing to put that in writing. Right?

http://www.douglascountysentinel.com/view/full_story/19820104/article-Brighten-Academy-a-finalist-for-Charter-School-of-the-Year-honor?instance=DShome_news_top2

Marci, there is good and bad to everything. I say congratulations to them.
On the flip side, there are others that aren't going to make it. And again... on average, charter schools spend $3000 more per child with the same or worse results than the public schools.

And remember this, under the new bill, charter schools won't answer to a local board, instead they answer to someone in another part of the state that may or may not understand the local issues in that community. This will be another level of government that we simply can't afford.

North,
"there is good and bad to everything" coming from a Weatherman, that's priceless...
(Smiles)

Simply, I don’t understand why people aren’t interested in utilizing
(read fixing if you will) existing government bodies on hand NOW, rather than just adding to them as is or the OUTRIGHT creation of NEW appointed layers to fill with expensive bodies?

The funds involved in the end all come from the same set of pockets OURS.

Stating no local funds are involved is off base just a bit since it comes FROM our dollars anyway. The concern of current education system is that they will be the new “IT”. This further cuts them under conditions where the state hasn’t met its FULL funding obligation for years now.

If the state mandates an entity exist, why not CLEARLY provide additional funding FROM somewhere on record BEFORE the statewide VOTE?

If NO funding comes with it – it MUST really beTAKEN from elsewhere, resulting in a smaller pie. You can only bilk money from the FEDS and Medicare by a hospital bed tax for so long you know…

( Yeah a concept DEVELOPED under Conservative leaders – shutter)

It’s like CIDs, the state claims publicly “it has no funds available” yet how do these entities KEEP getting NEW state granted funding?

Do they (US) have a press in the Gold DOME basement, or is it coming from some other source?

CHOICE is a good thing but don’t just JUMP - unless you know how it’s REALLY PAID for...

Athens Mama - We all hear what you are saying in regards to your experience in your school district, and it's very disheartening that your child didn't receive the services that he/she deserved; however, we are obviously not in the same county. I am proud to say that I am an employee of my local school district, and my children attend school here. It's rare for a person to go to work every day and have faith that you are doing what is best for the children of our future, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that my coworkers and I do that very thing. AND the only complaints I hear are about the dwindling funds that are put into our education system by the STATE. The state who you claim "is ready to do anything to find solutions to our embarrassing failures." There is a time and place for everything, and now, in our current economic state, is not the time to give what is left of our local rights over to yet another state bureaucracy. This amendment is NOT going to give YOU school choice, it's going to give the STATE school choice and whether or not to approve a charter in each district. I'm not exactly sure what your argument is because our LOCAL school districts are and will continue to approve high quality charter applications. If the particular county you live in is not approving charters, maybe you should develop one yourself that meets high expectations, encourages classroom management, improves teacher attitudes, provides healthy meals, and gives more recess time.

Sarah Jessica ~ I do not speak for other counties in the state of Georgia, and I realize that. I have worked out of county and have found things to be quite different. In my county, I feel frustrated because working with the local School Board does not seem to be a viable solution. The incumbents have been voted in over and over, so many times that I don't think some really feel accountable to the public anymore. Yours is a good solution, and I have thought about developing a charter school in my district. However, it would take a state agency to approve that here in my county. Unless the king or queen thinks it up, it's not a good idea.

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