As I was meeting with Bob Pepalis this morning to discuss whether or not to start this blog, I got this email: Subject - State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge On The Constitutional Amendment For Charter Schools (also known as HR 1162). In a detailed eight-page synopsis of what is really going on in public education in the State of Georgia, Dr. Barge concludes; "I cannot support the creation of a new, costly, and unnecessary state bureaucracy." OMG! This is the equivalent of President Obama saying, "I'm going to fire Arne Duncan and stop wasting federal tax dollars in the Department of Education because he is just making matters worse for most parents and their kids." Dr. Barge is telling you; the parents, taxpayers and voters, the truth about HR 1162, an amendment to our state constitution that will be on the ballot Nov. 6th. He is saying in no uncertain terms to vote "NO" and he's telling you why.
GEORGIA CAN'T AFFORD HR 1162
Dr. Barge points out that the state already has the power to authorize a charter school which a local board has denied. He says that the state cannot afford to expand those powers while traditional public schools have been cut by $5 billion dollars since 2003. So why would Rep. Jan Jones say that, "HR 1162 recognizes public education has been and should be a shared effort by the state and school boards to deliver the best educational opportunities to students." Why would she want the voters to think that the state is not sharing in this effort when in fact, as Dr. Barge states in his letter, they are? I am thinking the Emperors clothes have been sent out for a dry cleaning.
Certain state legislators and certain school choice advocates are leading parents and taxpayers to believe that the amendment, HR 1162, is about improving education for all public school children. It is not. Our kids deserve better than HR 1162 and all the PR tested sound bites you will be inundated with from now until Nov. 6th.
Stay tuned for - HR 1162 - Top Ten Reasons To Vote "NO" on Nov. 6th. Until next time, a huge THANKS to Dr. Barge for doing his job - "Making Education Work for All Georgians."
A Reader
12:43 pm on Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Thank you, Elizabeth, for an intelligent, non-partisan response to this issue!
William Evelyn Jr.
10:11 am on Saturday, August 18, 2012
Elizabeth - While I have my personal opinion about HR 1162, I would like to hear the alternatives for parents to have educational choices for their children.
What exactly should be done start down the path of privatizing schools and getting government out of the business of dumbing down our children?
cr
1:06 pm on Sunday, August 19, 2012
Private schools already exist.
Elizabeth Hooper
2:51 pm on Sunday, August 19, 2012
Bill, I don't think that privatizing public education is the right path for our children. I will be explaining why in further posts. I also don't think that making general statements like the government is dumbing down our children is constructive. What specific proof do you have? This a complex issue. I'm trying my best to look behind the sound bites and verify my facts. It would be refreshing if certain legislators were interested in doing the same.
Truth is all that matters
8:13 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
48th in the nation is a pretty clear indicator that what we have been doing is not working for our kids.
Stevie Nicks
8:23 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
Where are we 48th?? show me ... last I heard it had something to do with SAT scores and the number of students who take the SAT. That test is one indicator and it is used as a predictor for how well students will do in colleget. Becasue the HOPE is tied to it, we have too many students, those who havent taken the HS classes necessary to be succussful in it, taking it to see if they can get HOPE. There are places in the state, Cherokee & Forsyth Counties, northern Fulton County that compete on a national level very well. We have students from those areas going to prestigous schools. So give the 48th arguement a rest....oh and charter schools have not shown to be significanly better on any test anywhere...
What did you say?
10:31 am on Saturday, August 18, 2012
Thanks for the new educational blog, it leaves us with much to think about!
Frank Jones
3:26 pm on Sunday, August 19, 2012
Bill...Why would you pose the question, (paraphrased) "what should be done to privatize schools?" as opposed to, "what specific steps can government do to improve the education of all public school students?"
I believe the answer is summed up in the next part of your question/statement, that you believe that government actually wants to "dumb down our children" and implying that government has no right providing any public services.
The problem with your statement is that government is and has been very successful in many endeavors when the politicians allow knowledgeable government professionals do their jobs...public university systems are a prime example and many local public school systems do amazing jobs.
Lastly, there is no proof that for-profit public education performs better that traditional schools.
Tom Murphy
8:35 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
That's it Elizabeth. Go ahead and chain the kids in South Fulton, Atlanta, DeKalb and other places which have high minority populations, low education outcomes, and high poverty to the failing schools they are forced to attend while you get to drive back to your suburban 5 bedroom 3 bath gated community home and ignore the struggles of so many others. You come across as a closet bigot.
Elizabeth Hooper
12:06 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
Tom,
Thanks for the compliment - actually my husband and I send our kids to public schools because they excellent and very diverse. Have you ever been to Alpharetta High School? Just walk the halls and let me know how many rich white kids from gated communities you can pick out. Secondly, exactly how do you think HR 1162 and HB 797 will be helping the high poverty low minorty kids you speak of? Read HB 797 - find one mention of "at risk students", "low performing schools." Why do you think I'm so upset by this amendment? Guess what's most likely going to happen - Alpharetta which is one of the highest performing school districts in the state had 4 charter schools (yes I know they are locally approved). What in HB 797 will prevent that from happening rather than helping the people you spoke about? If you can find that in HB 797, by all means, let us know.
Thomas Hart
1:31 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Mrs. Hooper,
Do you think student performance in Georgia should match the level of existing spending?
What do you think is an adequate amount for per student spending? What is the per student dollar amount that will produce college/career ready graduates and a dropout rate of less than 10%? (Feel free to provide a $minimum and $maximum that would produce the desired results)
Do you think that Cherokee Charter Academy’s 2013 budget of around $7,500 per student is too aggressive of a goal?
Do you think that Cherokee County School District’s 2013 budget of around $10,500 per student is adequate?
Do you think the Georgia Association of Educators’ Collective Bargaining Committee will put children first in their efforts to improve educator’s retirement, salary, and benefits?
Frank Jones
10:54 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
Thomas...When comparing budgets its mandatory that your compare Apples to Apples. When you compare CCA's budget of $7,500 per student to CCSD's $10,500, you're not comparing like budgets.
CCSD's budget includes $13 million for transportation that CCA does not provide. CCSD's budget includes $64 million for school construction that CCA does not provide. (CCSD's budget includes $54 million in debt service which equates to CCA's rent.) When you adjust for these differences, the budget per child between CCSD and CCA are almost the same.
Now that the broad budget has been adjusted, a prudent person would look at the underlying demographics of the populations at CCSD and CCA. If the populations are the same, end of story. If they're different, the costs to educate one group could be higher than the other.
Demographic data can be found at: http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/Technology-Services/Data-Collections/Pages/Home.aspx
Per the State's data, CCSD's student population is significantly different than CCA's population and has a greater share of higher cost students. How's it different? Here's how:
-CCSD's has twice as many students on Free/Reduced Lunches 31% vs. 16%
-CCSD's has 14.1% hispanic student vs. CCA's 4.1%
-CCSD has to accept all SPED students whereas CCA decline any it can't "reasonably" educate.
Considering the demographics, CCSD educates more challenged students at the same cost as CCA.
Lastly, please check the CRCT results...CCSD did better.
Elizabeth Hooper
12:19 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
Thanks Frank for your detailed response. It would have taken me a very long time to come up with the facts.
Thomas Hart
2:01 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
Good point Frank. Transportation is a value added item. Subtract $333 per student. CCSD drops to $10,167 per student. The other 2 items, construction (facilities) and debt, are realities managed by both CCSD and CCA. CCA chooses to rent their facilities and that is included in their spending. CCSD chooses to buy land and build their facilities. It is part of the apple. It will stay. I am not sure why debt was magically removed from your apple. The cost is very real to the taxpayer. You should clarify why debt service should not be part of your apple.
I’ll defer to your better knowledge of the effects of demographics on per student spending. Do you think demographics would fully explain the $2,600 premium that CCSD is spending per student?
You did not address (nor did Mrs. Hooper) what level of total per student spending ($minimum to $maximum) would be required to get Georgia into the top five nationally in student performance while keeping a 95% graduation rate. Do you think it is even possible? Hard, accountable commitments to top performance and setting expectations on cost would help get buy-in from voters, especially when it is going to be painful.
Please share your thoughts on why the Georgia Association of Educators has a Collective Bargaining Committee. Do you support unionization of educators in Georgia?
Frank Jones
4:24 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thomas...If you read my post, I only deducted $13 million for Transportation and $64 million for Construction. I did not state that debt service should be deducted. I stated that the CCSD's debt service equates to CCA's rent.
There reason that construction should be deducted is that the construction isn't for schools currently in operation and serving student in this budget year. As such, it is incorrect to use those expenditures when comparing to CCA which only has one facility and is not building another facility.
Also in respect to the capital expenditures, when CCSD spend money to purchase land and construct facilities, these facilities belong to the taxpayers forever and can be used for 20, 40, or even 60 years until a major rebuild is required. When CCA rents its facilities, the 20 year rent payment will approximate the entire purchase price and as such, over 60 years, CCA will pay for the facility 3 times and the tax payers will own nothing. Instead, CCA's related company will own the property AND have 3 times the rental income.
Thomas Hart
6:35 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Frank you make a great argument for the state sponsored Charter Schools to receive a capital allocation in addition to the operating allocations. It would make sense (thinking long term) to buy a facility or re-use an existing public facility.
Me
8:45 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thomas, Don't underestimate to any degree how much the difference is in educating the Special Ed (and to a great degree, low SES) students. The low teacher staffing ratio, special programs (PT, OT, SLP, adaptive technology, art, PE, categorical parapros, special buses with paras, etc.), etc.for special ed and often Early Intervention Program (smaller class sizes) for the low SES students who came to school "behind," are MUCH higher than the cost to educate an "average +" student. From an analysis of special ed funding a couple of years ago, notice the mean cost is $30,323, with only 14% of the funding coming from the state and 25% from feds. http://portal.fultonschools.org/departments/Financial_Services/Budget_Services/Documents/FY%202011%20Budget/Board%20Retreat%2002-26-10-FCSSSpecialEdCostperFTE-InitialFY10.pdf
Me
8:54 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
And for a frame of reference, peruse the FSA audit to see what a VERY small percentage of their budget was spent on Special Ed. IDEA, TItle I (schools with many low SES students) and Title III (ESL) are federally mandated services with little federal funds forthcoming...which is why Frank mentions the cost of these challenged students.
Elizabeth Hooper
12:15 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
Truth,
Please don't tell me you're referring to 48th in SAT scores in 2011? Even the SAT folks issue a disclaimer each year about how meaningless that data is. Here's why: #1 Ranked state in 2011: Illinois, combined score - 1807, PERCENTAGE of students taking the test - 5%!!! # 48 Ranked state : Georgia, combined score, 1445, percentage of students taking the test - 80%. Why isn't everyone in the world moving to Illinois? Because state ranking is meaningless - parents look at individual high schools. Our North Fulton high schools are awesome even with a HIGH percentage of students taking the SAT.
Juan Dela Cruz
3:00 pm on Friday, September 28, 2012
Well, how about we receive a meaningless ranking of 2 or 3. Those at the bottom always say the ranking system is flawed.
It seems the education system we had, designed by progressives, 100 years ago, will do anything, to perpetuate their system. It protects people who use the school systems' money as if it were their own. It's time we citizens had a chance to break this terrible monopoly.
No Name
10:05 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
A perspective on charter schools from someone in the Reagan DOE.
http://www.newswithviews.com/iserbyt/iserbyt107.htm
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