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ERC School Choice Group Meets to Discuss Charters
On May 4, 2015, the Expanding Educational Options for Georgia Families/School Choice committee of the Governor's Education Reform Commission (ERC) met to review Georgia charter school policies. The committee reviewed a PowerPoint presentation which outlines Georgia charter law and policy and proposes changes.
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National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Ranks GA
& Recommends Model Law
Lisa Grover, Senior Director for Advocacy and Support for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) described her organization's ranking of where Georgia stands nationally with regard to charter policy and recommended that Georgia adopt elements of NAPCS'S model charter school law.
Georgia charter law strengths, as Grover said she perceives them, include no cap on the number of charter schools, allowance for variety of charter schools, transparent application processes, multiple charter authorizers, right to due process, exemption from existing collective bargaining agreement, clear student lottery, and adequate authorizer funding.
Georgia's weaknesses that Grover mentioned include inequitable operational funding, lack of access to facilities and facility funding, inadequate autonomy, lack of authorizer accountability requirements, and lack of statutory provisions to govern expansion of high quality public charter schools.
Notably, Grover recommended that Georgia charter schools be given the authority to develop their own teacher evaluation systems instead of using a statewide educator assessment.
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Charter School Administrators Recommend Changes in Funding and Facilities
After Grover concluded, several Georgia charter school administrators addressed the group. The speakers described charter school's challenges in funding in facilities and recommend the following:
- Require inclusion of charter schools in ESPLOST funding
- Provide locally approved charter schools with a per-pupil carve out of the state's Capital Outlay funds as the state does for state approved charter schools
- Better define "unused district facility" to meet the intent of the law--mandating co-location for underutilized public school facilities
- Fund Representative Ed Setzler's House Bill 831 (passed in 2007) allowing for a grant program for qualified charter school contributions
- Exempt charter schools from property tax
- Create a state authority with the power to issue debt for charter schools modeling the "Private Colleges and Universities Act"
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Charter Schools and Pupil Transportation
The charter school representatives also expressed frustration with pupil transportation. Mirroring a similar conversation that members of the ERC Funding Committee have had at recent meetings regarding pupil transportation, the speakers today recommended moving transportation categorical grant funding into the student base of the new education funding formula. Proponents say this will ensure that local school districts allow charter schools to participate meaningfully in district daily transportation program and ensure that charter schools can purchase transportation services at-cost from local districts.
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Next Committee Meeting on Voucher Program
Committee chair Nels Peterson announced that the next School Choice meeting will take place on March 29 in room 406 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building. Peterson indicated that committee members will focus on Georgia's Student Scholarship Organization (SSO) voucher program at that meeting.
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