Crunch time continues for new and existing charter schools created last year by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission after a change in state law, a law that was recently struck down on 4-3 vote by the Georgia Supreme Court on the grounds it was unconstitutional. Schools such as the Coweta Charter Academy in Senoia are attempting to work with legislators, the Coweta County Board of Education and the Georgia Dept. of Education (DOE) to find a way to continue operations.
Georgia Charter Educational Foundation board member and Coweta County resident Ernest Taylor said the legislature is trying desperately to keep the existing charter schools open.
“It’s most encouraging how the state legislature is working to resolve this issue. The Senate subcommittee is meeting to try to arrange the funding, especially for the charter schools that are up and running. We’re in constant contact with them to see what they can come up with. And I think they can find the funding to get close to the per pupil reimbursement number. The legislature will do something, but time is not on everybody’s side,” Taylor said. “And I think there is encouragement coming from the state Dept. of Education to local school boards to give as much consideration as possible to charter schools.”
Meantime, the Coweta County School System continues to maintain what is essentially a middle of the road approach to the controversy that continues to fester in the state’s affected communities.
“The impact of the ruling isn’t entirely clear at this point,” school system spokesperson Dean Jackson said after the Supreme Court ruling. “Whatever its impact may be, the school system will continue to serve the students of Coweta County.”
At the Coweta Charter Academy at Senoia, Principal Terry Stollar in a letter to parents said DOE has provided guidelines to the Coweta school board explaining the process for considering the school’s request and the timeline for the board to take action and notify DOE of its decision.
Stollar said charter academy representatives met with Coweta County Superintendent Dr. Steve Barker last week and will be submitting a revised application to the school board this week. The school system has confirmed the charter academy’s request to be on the agenda at the June 14 meeting, Stollar said, adding that she did not expect a vote to take place at the meeting.
Taylor in his comments earlier in the week gave an overall perspective on the state of public education that exists in Georgia and the United States.
“It’s appalling to me that the people of Georgia are not screaming bloody murder over the state of education here,” Taylor said. “In Coweta we graduate 65 out of every 100 freshmen, Georgia ranks 44th in the United States in education and the U.S. ranks 32nd in the world. And local school boards are happy with that?”
