Most Georgia school systems might soon take charter route
Clarke County now has just one charter school, but in a year, every public school in the county could be a charter school — along with hundreds more across the state.
State law sets a July 1, 2015 deadline for the state’s local school boards to make a choice for the future, specifying whether they planned to continue operating as “status quo” or choosing one of two alternate paths. The law doesn’t set a date for when the schools must follow through on their indicated choices.
The choices other than “status quo” are to operate as an “Investing in Educational Excellence” (IE2) system or as a charter system, In exchange for school systems’ pledge of higher student performance levels, each of these options offers the advantage of additional flexibility regarding state rules on pay scales, teacher certification and how money must be spent, among other rules.
The charter choice differs from IE2 in that charter status requires systems to set up school-level governing boards that have some decision-making powers. But it also offers the possibility of more state money.
Under current state law, charter schools can get $87 more annually per student in state appropriations. At current funding levels, that could amount to about $1 million for the Clarke County School District, according to Superintendent Philip Lanoue, who wants Clarke County to choose the charter option. But the main reason to go for the charter choice is flexibility and the opportunity to try new strategies like the system’s digital learning initiative, he said.
“Status quo just doesn’t seem to be an option for us,” Lanoue said
In a charter system, schools can get waivers freeing them of some state rules, including class sizes, salary scales, teacher certification and expenditure controls. They can’t waive other rules, such as state and federal health and safety requirements.
And the extra money per student isn’t guaranteed. It depends on how much state legislators decide to allocate to charter schools from year to year, and that amount could diminish if a flood of school boards choose the charter option, according to Angela Palm, director of policy and legislative services Most Georgia school systems might soon take charter route | Online Athens: