Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Yarbrough: Charter schools may be boondoggles | Online Athens

Yarbrough: Charter schools may be boondoggles | Online Athens:


Yarbrough: Charter schools may be boondoggles

One more time, let me go over my concerns about the charter school constitutional amendment bill in the state Senate. I don’t have a problem with charter schools. My problem is that nobody seems to be talking about for-profit charter schools.
Call me cynical, but you have to wonder at the enthusiasm of legislators for charter schools, even as they continue to cut public school budgets and furlough teachers.
And, there’s the Georgia Department of Education report saying that charter schools don’t perform as well as traditional public schools and their graduation rates are no better.
Legislators have gotten downright threatening with reluctant colleagues about charter schools. But if charter school performance isn’t better than their public-school cousins, why the urgency?
A sharp-eyed reader suggested I might want to see what’s happening in Florida with