Jack Hassard, emeritus professor of science education at Georgia State University, warns his fellow Georgians about a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that will allow the state to cancel local control.
This is Governor Nathan Deal’s so-called “Opportunity School District,” modeled on Tennessee’s failed “Achievement School District.”
Read the language of the proposed amendment:
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?
( ) Yes
( ) No
If we posit that the state of Georgia does not know how to improve student achievement in “chronically failing public schools,” then what is the amendment really proposing? Let the state take control of schools away from their local school district and give them to out-of-state corporate charter chains. Even though this was tried and failed in Tennessee, let’s do it in Georgia too.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is Jack Hassard the only person in Georgia alert to this legislation? How many other states have “constitutional amendments” this radical. Sounds like an ALEC attack.
Laura,
Georgia School Board Associations OSD Tool Kit
http://gsba.com/advocacy-communications/osd-toolkit/
Georgia Federation of Teachers
http://ga.aft.org/opportunity-school-district/5-reasons-why-opportunity-school-district-amendment-wrong-georgia
My recent email blast…
“AJC spot-on about OSD, not such much about Atlanta superintendent”
https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/e1611783-7043-4568-982c-324aa23ee367
Thus here in Georgia various organizations and individuals such as Jack Hassard and myself are well aware of Gov. Nathan Deal’s looming insidious OSD monster. Eyes are wide open. However, Gov. Deal is betting selfish, self-serving folk and “low information” voters will carry OSD to passage. It also seems Gov. Deal is hedging his bet by getting folk – especially Black folk in Atlanta – to jump onto the school choice bandwagon to effect the essence of OSD even if it does not pass.
Actually, I think Deal is cunning enough to have already hedged his bet with or through quasi-OSD agenda in case his OSD plan does not pass. These organizations popped in Atlanta just last month:
Better Outcomes for Our Kids (BOOK), with promotion by Civil Rights icon Andrew Young and Joseph Lowry’s daughter, Donna Lowry
http://www.bookatl.org/
University Of Phoenix, with promotion by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network at West Hunter Baptist Church, a predominately Black church
http://newsone.com/3421107/university-of-phoenix-announces-partnership-with-community-and-education-leaders/
The Super School Project (XQ) in Atlanta, with promotion by APAB (Atlanta Planning Advisory Board) Education Committee
http://xqsuperschool.org/
Laura,
Georgia School Board Associations OSD Tool Kit
http://gsba.com/advocacy-communications/osd-toolkit/
Georgia Federation of Teachers
http://ga.aft.org/opportunity-school-district/5-reasons-why-opportunity-school-district-amendment-wrong-georgia
My recent email blast…
“AJC spot-on about OSD, not such much about Atlanta superintendent”
https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/e1611783-7043-4568-982c-324aa23ee367
Thus here in Georgia various organizations and individuals such as Jack Hassard and myself are well aware of Gov. Nathan Deal’s looming insidious OSD monster. Eyes are wide open. However, Gov. Deal is betting selfish, self-serving folk and “low information” voters will carry OSD to passage. It also seems Gov. Deal is hedging his bet by getting folk – especially Black folk in Atlanta – to jump onto the school choice bandwagon to effect the essence of OSD even if does not pass.
Actually, I think Deal is cunning enough to have already hedged his bet with or through quasi-OSD agenda in case his OSD plan does not pass. These organizations popped in Atlanta just last month:
Better Outcomes for Our Kids (BOOK), with promotion by Civil Rights icon Andrew Young and Joseph Lowry’s daughter, Donna Lowry
http://www.bookatl.org/
University Of Phoenix, with promotion by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network at West Hunter Baptist Church, a predominately Black church
http://newsone.com/3421107/university-of-phoenix-announces-partnership-with-community-and-education-leaders/
The Super School Project (XQ) in Atlanta, with promotion by APAB (Atlanta Planning Advisory Board) Education Committee
http://xqsuperschool.org/
Laura,
Georgia School Board Associations OSD Tool Kit
–http://gsba.com/advocacy-communications/osd-toolkit/
Georgia Federation of Teachers
–http://ga.aft.org/opportunity-school-district/5-reasons-why-opportunity-school-district-amendment-wrong-georgia
My recent email blast…
“AJC spot-on about OSD, not such much about Atlanta superintendent”
–https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/e1611783-7043-4568-982c-324aa23ee367
Thus here in Georgia various organizations and individuals such as Jack Hassard and myself are well aware of Gov. Nathan Deal’s looming insidious OSD monster. Eyes are wide open. However, Gov. Deal is betting selfish, self-serving folk and “low information” voters will carry OSD to passage. It also seems Gov. Deal is hedging his bet by getting folk – especially Black folk in Atlanta – to jump onto the school choice bandwagon to effect the essence of OSD even if does not pass.
Actually, I think Deal is cunning enough to have already hedged his bet with or through quasi-OSD agenda in case his OSD plan does not pass. These organizations popped in Atlanta just last month:
Better Outcomes for Our Kids (BOOK), with promotion by Civil Rights icon Andrew Young and Joseph Lowry’s daughter, Donna Lowry
–http://www.bookatl.org/
University Of Phoenix, with promotion by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network at West Hunter Baptist Church, a predominately Black church
–http://newsone.com/3421107/university-of-phoenix-announces-partnership-with-community-and-education-leaders/
The Super School Project (XQ) in Atlanta, with promotion by APAB (Atlanta Planning Advisory Board) Education Committee
–http://xqsuperschool.org/
It doesn’t help that the wording of proposed amendment is such that a vote against is perceived to be a vote against improving student performance. The typical voter will not understand that the state will be on a wholesale privatizing campaign if this amendment wins. It is possible that the low information voters will be misled. That is why it is important to get the facts out to voters prior to the election.
ALEC does not appear to be the source of this constitutional amendment. But it is clear ALEC wants to discredit Diane Ravitch… perhaps a nother badge of honor. https://www.alec.org/article/changing-lives-across-multiple-measures-school-choice-delivers-by-metrics-of-parents-and-regulators/
ALEC knows that it’s easier to control state legislators than all the local communities that can govern not only education but environmental laws and zoning, etc. Their goal is to remove local control by getting state legislation that preempts local control in many areas (the ones that seek to limit ALEC’s members’ ability to make money). The same thing is happening on the federal level with legislation to preempt state control.
On the federal level, there are goals to get rid of the EPA and FDA and many more “onerous” regulatory agencies. The local communities and states that want to have unpolluted water, land and air are inhibiting ALEC’s business partners.
At the local level, most citizens want to control education and their communities’ environment. The ed deformers in Georgia will not state openly what this legislation will actually do because if it did, citizens would not vote for it.
There is nothing chronic about failing public schools in Georgia or elsewhere. But failing public schools is endemic in this country. The people in this blog are unable to see the difference and think that the whole world is against them. It is so sad that they are led to this extreme hate against everything philosophy.
Seriously, Raj, how can you defend these type of “achievement” school districts, when Tennessee’s crashed and burned, taking local control of those schools with it? And where do you get the idea that we hate everyone, unless you, yourself, hate us, which I think is the answer to your question.
I don’t believe they follow ‘the evidence”, Raj.
This is what happened in the Tennessee achievement district:
“The report also highlighted that district-run turnaround efforts of low-performing schools have yielded better results than the ASD.”
The answer to every question in ed reform is “charter schools” DESPITE the evidence.
They’re ga-ga for charter schools. Head over heels in love. It’s an echo chamber.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2016/01/19/bill-proposes-close-asd/79019956/
Hey Raj. Here’s a piece from an ed reform lobby about their Ohio voucher program.
https://edexcellence.net/publications/evaluation-of-ohio%E2%80%99s-edchoice-scholarship-program-selection-competition-and-performance
Turns out, public schools have higher test scores than the voucher program we’re funding to replace public schools.
In the echo chamber, desperate to explain results that veer from the ed reform dogma, they decided that the public schools GOT BETTER because of the voucher program.
It is literally impossible for public schools to win this game. Even when they win it’s credited to OTHER schools! The voucher program is a failure but they’ll probably expand it, because according to them it’s “working”. What the hell, Raj? You tell me how these people fail. Even when they fail they claim victory.
All problems in public schools call for ed reform. All problems with ed reform call for more of the same ed reform. They rigged the game.
https://edexcellence.net/publications/evaluation-of-ohio%E2%80%99s-edchoice-scholarship-program-selection-competition-and-performance
“All problems in public schools call for ed reform” no!
Solution 1. Do nothing.
Solution 2. Pour more good money after bad.
Solution 3. All of the above.
Solution 4. Blame it on everyone else.
Solution 5. Blame it on oligarchs
Solution 6. Blame it on Obama.
Please choose one of the above.
My district has been under state control for twenty years with little to no improvement to show for it.
cross-posset at Oped News:
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Jack-Hassard-Georgians-O-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Charter-Schools_Education-Laws_Education-Testing_Educational-Crisis-160710-63.html#comment606208
with this comment which has embedded links
The corruption within the charter school INDUSTRY is endemic but ALEC operates in Georgia! In Atlanta, local NBC channel 11 station did an expose of the secretive far-right group called the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC. Under the aegis of ALEC, Georgia legislators met in a posh resort with corporate lawyers to decide their priorities for the next session.
ALEC does not appear to be the source of this constitutional amendment. But it is clear ALEC wants to discredit Diane Ravitch” perhaps another badge of honor.
This is a nation wide conspiracy by the EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX..
https://greatschoolwars.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/eic-oct_11.pd
… and the fraud follows it—see Ohio: Charter School Equipment Belongs to Private Manager, Not the Public https://dianeravitch.net/2015/09/15/ohio-charter-school-equipment-belongs-to-private-manager-not-the-public/.f
Diane Ravich predicted the current disaster for public education years ago. How Not to Fix Our Public Schools and in her book Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools
As a daily reader of the Diane Ravitch blog, I am watching as thestate legislatures , take over public education appoint businessmen to oversee the schools, with little or no transparency. Charter schools
https://dianeravitch.net/?s=legislature