This Georgia parent warns other parents and families to vote against the ALEC-inspired constitutional amendment that would allow the governor to open an unlimited number of charter schools. The governor would be authorized to appoint a commission that could veto the decisions of local school boards. Charters, like the one her child attended, would be deregulated.
Here is her story:
Georgia Charter School Amendment. Vote No!
Georgia is in the midst of an intense debate over a proposed charter school amendment that will be on the ballot in November.
The state charter school amendment will allow charter schools to open without local approval. State approval will come from a seven member, politically appointed commission. Georgia already has two routes for charter applications and they will continue to approve charter applications.
The polls predict this amendment will pass with flying colors, thanks to a misleading ballot question and a majority of funding from outside the state. If this amendment passes, politics and corporations will shape our schools. If you have a problem at a state controlled charter school, you will have no recourse.
Why Local Control is Critical
I have fought for two years to get my legislator and amendment author, Jan Jones, to meet with me about a local charter school, Fulton Science Academy. My son attended Fulton Science Academy charter school, in Georgia, for three years when I found out about problems that also led to my learning that the school was being operated by followers of the influential and controversial Turkish Imam, Fethullah Gulen.
Fulton Science Academy’s problems were serious and later validated, by an external audit, commissioned by the local school board. My concerns left me fearful to speak up and included a visit from two FBI agents, to my house, to interview me and my son, about the school. (I did not call the FBI.)
Details can be found in this article about Fulton Science Academy in the New York Times, by Stephanie Saul. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/us/audits-for-3-georgia-charter-schools-tied-to-gulen-movement.html)
Turns out the Gulen movement was the least of my worries.
The real problem? Legislators with tunnel vision, hoping to open the Georgia education frontier to more charter groups with multi-faceted objectives at any cost. My legislators demonstrated that they will look the other way, as long as, a school has high test scores. If the school has received a National Blue Ribbon Award, as did this particular charter school? Well, it is untouchable.
Ultimately, the local school board held Fulton Science Academy accountable and did not renew its charter. The local school board did the right thing, which equaled political suicide. The politicians condemned the local school board’s decision, continue to vilify the board in public and have put legal pressure on the board to reverse their decision.
I understand that the landscape of education is changing and with that rules and regulations need to be adapted. However, it is irresponsible of the Governor and our legislators to lobby for a constitutional amendment that does not stop the known problematic consequences of charter schools.
Keep the vote on education local. Vote no!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is a Gulen – associated science academy very close to where I live, about which rumors of various educational problems have been circulating. I will look into it more deeply.
The Gulen schools were chartered by their local Boards of Education- not the state of GA.
This case has nothing to do with the amendment allowing the state DOE to charter schools (which cannot, by law, be religious).
Bigotted individuals like this lady have no credibility in a nation who values and respects diversity and pursuit of excellence. FSA was never tied to the Gulen movement by anyone and Fulton County used the same subversive tactics in closing them.
Aside from all this, FSA has nothing to do with the amendment.
This lady says NOTHING which is bigotted. Sending her child to Fulton Science Academy (a very diverse school) for three years proves to me that she is NOT bigotted!
FSA inspired this charter amendment. If you follow Georgia politics, you will see that the amendment was proposed and backed by the local politicians who ignored this mother’s pleas to be heard. The same politicians who signed a threatening letter to the Board of Education calling for FSA to remain open. The same politicians, in fact, who were frequently featured on FSA’s website as having visited the school and been presented with FSa-manufactured “awards” for their dedication to education and our schoolchildren. In fact, these politicians are dedicated to lining their own pockets and the pockets of influential friends and donors.
Fulton Science Academy is a Gulen charter school. This network is run by a reclusive imam who lives in Pennsylvania but leads a major political movement in Turkey. The Gulen charter network is the largest group of charter schools in the nation. Do you know why a Turkish imam runs so many charter schools in the U.S.? If I recall correctly, three in Georgia are under federal investigation.
FSA parents who believe the institution, its administration, and supporting politicians are inappropriate for their child’s development have the choice to withdraw their kids from the school.
If enough believe that way, schools close.
Through their kids’ enrollment, parents are in control of charters- regardless of whether they’re approved by the local or BOE or state DOE.
What could be a more “local” form of control than giving it to parents?
More about this situation @ http://georgiacharterschooldisgrace.com/
A compilation of news articles about Fulton Science Academy’s failed charter renewal @ http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2011/05/fulton-science-academy-middle-school.html
What is the failure about Fulton Science Academy? Is it because FSA is the 1st Blue Ribbon Charter School of the Georgia? http://so-calledgulencharterschools.blogspot.com/2012/09/so-called-gulen-charter-school-fulton.html
If you are mentioning about blurry audit report, please see FSA’s dispute to that audit report: http://alpharetta.patch.com/articles/fulton-science-academy-responds-to-school-board-audit
There is nothing FSA did wrong! There is nothing wrong with those charter schools operated by Turkish origin professionals working at those Public Schools of our Country: http://gulenschools.org/gulen-charter-schools.html
Please remember: No to this amendment, will be No to good quality of education and taking away the next generations’ right of quality education.
This is a good site to learn about the Gulen charter chain:
http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/gulen-school-characteristics.html
To learn about the Fulton Science Academy in Georgia, read here:
http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2011/12/gulen-charter-schools-in-georgia.html
That’s where I go to get factual information – blogs sponsored by organizations or individuals with a motive. Geez, give me a break.
Diane, FSA was never tied to the Gulen movement – despite how hard they tried.
And why you wonder why Turkish folks run so many charters, I wonder how so many incompetent boards and superintendents end up running traditional public schools. Track record in Georgia is abysmal – 67.4% graduation rate.
Thank you for sharing the Georgia story.
As you know, this is a tough battle.
Georgia needs to stop the spread of broken charter schools now.
For more information on the Georgia Charter School Battle:
www. georgiacharterschooldisgrace.com
Georgia has always been more moderate than the rest of the South, largely thanks to the relatively liberal Atlanta and other fairly open minded cities such as Savannah,Athens, Macon and even Augusta. They got their first charter back around 2002 and it was started by parents and teachers because a neighborhood school was closing and the alternative was terrible. They kept the building and created the charter. Many people who supported the charter had attended Anne E. West. The charter group had the sense to pass the proposal around to as many professional teachers as possible for comments. This included me and at least 4 other current and retired teachers in my church. Then they wanted to start a middle school a couple years later because the local one, King Middle, had a multitude of problems, not the least of which was an African-American principal who was severely racist. Parents often transported their children across town themselves or put them on MARTA to get them to a better school.
If there is any group that can stop the abuse of teachers and corporatization of schools it is Georgia’s teachers and citizens. We got rid of Gov. Roy Barnes after one term for teacher abuse even though we had to hold our noses and vote for a Republican, Sonny Perdue. Sonny, however, watched himself. This current governor, Nathan Deal,is a nut case and vicious on the level of Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. But this is the kind of thing that happens when you let money lovers instead of child lovers run your state.
The idea of a constitutional amendment for the charters is very Georgia-like. It means the bad guys are serious and that it is time for a lot of education and the stomping upon of the supporters like we did Roy Barnes. That is how we got a lottery that is totally and directly dedicated to education and certain projects in education. Our teacher governor, Zell Miller got an amendment passed so that the General Assembly could not mess with the money. Then he raised teacher pay by 15%, a campaign promise, and built raises into the amendment. There were also scholarships so that teachers could get their M.ED for free. The other southern states screamed because that meant they would eventually have to raise their pay to be competitive.
If anyone can stop this amendment the Georgia teachers can. Although Atlanta Public Schools is tarnished from the cheating scandal (which actually has gone on since about 1990) and Clayton County (South metro Atlanta) might lose accreditation for a second time, Georgia has limited history of private or parochial schooling except for the very rich
and the Catholics who have always been a small minority,although there were a good many segregation academies, especially in rural areas in the 1970s.(and an occasional Muslim school and a Hebrew school on La Vista road that caters to the Orthodox Jewish community).
I lived in Atlanta for 30 years. I taught in Georgia for most of my career. Teachers from other states need to give their support to the Georgia teachers and open minded citizens. Letters to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about how bad charters are as well as notes to The Vent might help. AJC.com now has comment sections on many of its newspaper articles. The home of Dr. Martin Luther King actually listens to truth and its people also love a good civil rights demonstration. Yall give as much support as you can in any way you can. You really don’t want the South’s least backward state and the home of the world’s busiest airport to go the way of the rest of the South. It would be bad for education throughout America.
The fact is that state has only chartered chartered about 13 schools- this isn’t some state-wide conspiracy!
And state-chartered schools’s AYP achievements have out-paced their district counterparts 75% to 67%
They also cost taxpayers less because the local Board of Education gets to keep all the local education tax money (ESPLOST and property taxes) for kids that the charters are responsible for educating.
Parents have kids on waiting lists for the charters; competition is useful.
At least give parents & kids a choice to enroll in somewhere other than their traditional public school- especially in poorly-performing districts- where most charetrs are.
You should all be ashamed for lobbying to stop this amendment from being passed. PARENTS and STUDENTS are the only individuals that are truly able to determine if a school has value. Even if the state commissions loads of charter schools ….
if no one attends then they close
if they fail to outperform typical public schools they close
if they violate laws then they close
If a public school fails, on any front, it remains open and continues in its medocrity.
First, Teegarden should be doubly ashamed for this story since she openly admits that she had no issues with FSA while her children attended the school. Further, she has NO EVIDENCE to support her claims that this is a Gulen school. What is a Gulen school anyway? 60 minutes did an investigative report that found that Fethullah Gulen had never visited any of the schools that these hysterical conspiracy theorists label with his name and does not in any way contribute or support U.S. charter schools financially. Show us some hard factual evidence!!!!
Are these bloggists so bigoted that they now classify schools by the administration’s religious practices and national origin? Are all schools with Catholic administrations now going to be known as Pope schools? REALLY? Honestly,if a Turkish Muslim administration can propel a charter school to be number one in the state of Georgia and get them nationally recognized, then I think that we should start importing educational professionals from Turkey by the boatload to Georgia. They obviously are doing something right!
Second, the audit of FSA commissioned by Fulton County Schools was no more than sensationalistic jornalism. Another external audit of FSA by a unimpeachable reputable firm found that the Fulton County Schools firm did not do its job, broke many auditing and accounting practices, and found no wrong-doing at all. The firm that audited Fulton County’s firms findings regurally testifies before the US Supreme Court. Further, during the 4 1/2 month audit that Fulton County Schools conducted they could not find one penny that was unaccounted for in ten years!!!! All their sad excuse for an audit could do was insinuate wrong-doing, so that weak minded bigots conspiracy theorists could scream foul. It is sad that my tax dollars paid for a piece of poorly written journalism that the county chose to call an audit.
Third, Georgia is at the BOTTOM of the country in education for the last thirty years. Local School Boards and their Superintendents have done nothing but maintain the status quo and their expansive central offices. We need change! Of course the local boards do not want charter schools….REAL autonomous charter schools, because then parents have a choice. Parents should be able to use their feet to vote on whether a school is good or not.
Fulton County Schools is 60th out of 179 public school districts and falling. Many schools have failed AYP for more than 5 years in a row and only 73% of the schools make a AYP. Their superintendent makes more than $250K. They also have one employee to every 7 kids. CRAZY! Further, they have even been found guilty of covering up the abuse of special needs children. Everyone in the upper tier, including the Board, needs to be fired and they need to start over.
Do your OWN research, taking into account ALL sides and information… stop listening to these seriously disillusioned biased individuals!
One person, one vote.
As a taxpayer and parent in Georgia I concur with this author. This amendment is motivated by two things; money and politics. It is nothing less than giving the state the authority to spend taxpayer money on schools without their , the taxpayers , consent. I object. This amendment and the enabling legislation which has already been signed by our corrupt governor , gives a blank check to for- profit emo’s and special interests who will pay, like schools with Gulenist ties, open access to tax dollars. It is rotten to the core. The legislation is an empty suit. Republicans and free marketeers will do anything, including negating their own rights, to give people who can pay access to public tax dollars . Our kids are not for sale. Make your school board responsive, demand accountability and best practice but don’t sell out or give up your vote to legislators who have already sold out .
Do you realize that it’s parent taxpayers who consent to enroll their kids in charter schools that are funded by state education dollars?
And if the school doesn’t perform to their expectations, they can pull their kids from the charter and re-enroll them in traditional public schools?
And if enough parents feel the same, the charter is revoked and the school is closed? When did that ever happen to a traditional public school for poor performance?
Mom should have checked out this (or any other) school before entrusting her child’s development to it. When she was dissatisfied with the school, she had, and exercised, her authority to pull her child from the charter and enroll him in another school. That’s about as local a level of control as possible!
The fact that the local authority she pleads for is the same one that approved the charter must be lost on her. This wasn’t even a state-chartered school!
You don’t believe in local control?
I certainly do agree with you that local is good, and control by parents is THE most local form of control there is.
Selecting, and on-going involvement in, your children’s schools is not a spectator sport conducted from afar. Like their health, diet, and social activities, regular parental involvement is essential. Thanks for your comment
The charter school governing board protocol does not always work.
Have you read about the Gulen movement? Even in Turkey, people have difficulty defining the objectives of this group. Read the news, if you live in Turkey and you write negative things about Gulen, you go to jail.
This is a secretive, controversial group, linked directly to a religious leader and they are using your tax dollars. There is no debate about the link to the Gulen movement. The question is why do they hide the link?
You have read the New York Times article. Have you talked to teachers from FSA, have you asked them if the school is linked to Gulen?
There will be creative, deceptive charter groups showing up all over the country breaking the rules, it is new territory.
To ignore the problem is very shortsighted.
The Gulen schools are a concern to me as well, but the couple of them in GA were chartered by local school boards, not by the state.