Dr. Edward Johnson is a brilliant systems analyst in Atlanta. He has been a close observer of the Atlanta public schools and their misgovernment as the Board of Education has latched onto the latest reform fad.
He points out that the public school system of the past no longer exists. Some people think that’s a food thing. He does not.
He wrote this observation.
By leading with his “One District …” slogan, and with Atlanta Board of Education meekly following along, APS Superintendent Dr. Johnson contends it is in the best interests of APS to be fragmented, to lack full transparency, to lack efficient and effective accountability, and to disparage the democratic principle that public education should be a public good.
In Georgia, we often hear the terms “school district” and “school system” used interchangeably.
But in the age of charter schools, this linguistic shortcut obscures a deeper truth: the public school system as a public good is no longer a unified system at all.
Before the proliferation of charter schools, an entity like Atlanta Public Schools (APS) governed all public-serving schools within its geographic boundaries. The terms “APS district” and “APS system” used interchangeably made sense—each described the same coherent, interrelated network of schools sharing the same governance, policy, administration, and purpose. Today, that coherence does not exist—it has been fragmented.
For example, by choice of Atlanta Board of Education, APS is now a “Charter System,” operating under a performance contract with the state that explicitly excludes independent charter schools. These schools, though publicly funded, are governed separately and are not subject to APS’s policies, leadership, administration, or community-based governance structures. They are public in funding, but private in autonomy.
This shift has compressed the expanse of APS as a public school system and as a public good. APS no longer encompasses all public-serving schools in Atlanta. And yet, we continue to refer to APS as both a “district” and a “system,” as if nothing has changed. Well, something has changed.
A system, by definition, implies interrelated parts. For public school systems, it implies shared accountability, common purpose, and public stewardship. When schools within a geographic area operate independently—without shared governance or policy—they are not part of the same system. They may be public-serving, but they are not part of the public school system.
This distinction matters. It matters for transparency, for accountability, and for the democratic principle that public education should be a public good—not a fragmented marketplace of loosely affiliated or wholly independent entities.
Yet, by going along with APS Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson’s “One District, with One Goal, for All Students,” board members violate the Oath of Office each of them swore—”In all things pertaining to my said office, I will be governed by the public good and the interests of said [APS] school system.”
Certainly, clearly, it is reasonable to recognize it is not in APS’s best interests that Dr. Bryan Johnson should be its Superintendent.
The Superintendent’s Comprehensive Long Range Facilities Master Plan, given the glossy name APS Forward 2040, Reshaping the Future of Education, will, short-range, compress the expanse of APS even more so, from its current 68 percent being a public school system to about 60 percent.
Then, compounding that long-range, the Superintendent’s Strategic Plan will efficiently and effectively turn APS into a workforce development entity to the exclusion of virtually all possibilities of APS ever becoming a high-quality public school system, where high-quality teaching and learning that readies children for professions and careers from A to Z happens, especially for “Black” children.
Georgia’s legal framework treats each local- and state-authorized charter school as its own “school system.” This semantic sleight of hand allows policymakers to claim that public education is expanding, even as its coherence erodes. But the public deserves clarity. We must stop conflating geographic proximity with systemic unity.
If we are to preserve the integrity of public education, we must reclaim the meaning of “system.” A public school system should be more than a collection of facilities—it should be a community of schools, governed together, accountable together, and committed together to the public good.
Ed Johnson
Advocate for Quality in Public Education
Atlanta GA | (404) 505-8176 | edwjohnson@aol.com
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is no chance for community within the public school system as long as there are charter schools that operate as public schools. Charters work in direct competition with non-charter public schools – they compete for students and resources; this makes it impossible for there to be an authentic educational community with shared goals, aspirations, and approaches. Charter schools either need to be abolished, or they need to operate the way that independent and parochial schools do – outside of the public school system.
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This seems to work within a broader goal of keeping urban communities apart. Michael Dell has recently set up Thousand dollar savings plans for each baby in certain zip codes. Caveat Emptor. Every scheme emanating from the powerful wealth that exists today seems to serve the purpose of making wealth increase for the few. Caveat Emptor.
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Systems collide!
They live in a bubble and see government as complicit in handouts and wokeness.
Government financial support is “welfare.”
Government Title programs are “equity”
Government “Offices of OCR, IDEA, etc.…” that take complaints are “enabling”
“Public” (schools, pools, parks) is for other people.
Enter the disrupters and the new regime, coded language and all, with a plan to minimize the do-gooders guilt (and line pocketbooks).
Like the first hybrid car owners who couldn’t wait to tell you they own a hybrid (to save the planet), now they can boast at gatherings they “help poor kids.”
How? They legislate tax credits for Education Services Accounts (ESAs) and vouchers. I think they call it “win-win”
Under the guise of “government efficiency” (actually they didn’t bother using that excuse, they just tore down the (White) house) they fired thousands of government employees whose offices took complaints and served parents of kids with disabilities.
And, if your state is red, they pile on proposing to reduce or eliminate property taxes and cap others.
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“Public” schools are demonized, but not public police, public firefighters, public parks, public highways, or anything else that serves the common good, paid for by taxpayers.
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Yes. They lose tax dollars. Schools lose tax dollars and teacher are demonized. He knows better to beat up on fireman and police – generally his version of real men doing great again jobs. Teachers in his world, not so much
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Red states go to great lengths to blur the lines between public and private education as they continuously shift more students into privatization. Whether they are playing a game of semantic gymnastics with terms like systems vs districts or trying to co-locate inside of existing public school buildings, their goal is generally to elevate the private option and feed off the public school budgets like the privatized parasites that they are. They hope the parents and community won’t notice the difference. It is all part of their “great public school heist.”
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