Archives for category: Georgia
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This Is the NBC-Hechinger Story That Reformers Don’t Want You to See

By dianeravitch
June 17, 2018 //
0

MANDATORY CREDIT: NBC News
LINK: https://nbcnews.to/2ypwDBU

‘It’s like a black and white thing’: How some elite charter schools exclude minorities

By Emmanuel Felton, The Hechinger Report
June 17, 2018

This story about school segregation was produced by the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, and the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, a newsroom for independent journalists, in partnership with NBC Nightly News and NBCNews.com.

For more on this report, tune in tonight to “NBC Nightly News”.

GREENSBORO, Ga. — This clearly was no ordinary public school.

Parents of prospective students converged on Lake Oconee Academy for an open house on a bright but unseasonably cold March afternoon for northern Georgia. A driveway circling a landscaped pond led them to the school’s main hall. The tan building had the same luxury-lodge feel as the nearby Ritz-Carlton resort. Parents oohed and aahed as Jody Worth, the upper school director, ushered them through the campus.

Nestled among gated communities, golf courses and country clubs, the school felt like an oasis of opportunity in a county of haves and have-nots, where nearly half of all children live in poverty while others live in multimillion-dollar lakeside houses.

The school’s halls and classrooms are bright and airy, with high ceilings and oversize windows looking out across the lush landscape. There is even a terrace on which students can work on warm days. After a guide pointed out several science labs, the tour paused at the “piano lab.” The room holds 25 pianos, 10 of them donated by residents of the nearby exclusive communities. The guide also noted that starting in elementary school, all students take Spanish, art and music classes. The high school, which enrolls less than 200 students, offers 17 Advanced Placement courses.

Lake Oconee’s amenities are virtually unheard of in rural Georgia; and because it is a public school, they are all available at the unbeatable price of free.

Conspicuously absent from the open house were African-American parents. Of the dozen or so prospective families in attendance, all were white except for one South Asian couple. At Lake Oconee Academy, 73 percent of students are white. Down the road at Greene County’s other public schools, 12 percent of students are white and 68 percent are black; there isn’t a piano lab and there are far fewer AP courses.

Lake Oconee Academy is a charter school. Charters are public schools, ostensibly open to all. The idea behind charters was to loosen rules and regulations that might hinder innovation, allowing them to hire uncertified teachers for example. But dozens of charters have also used their greater flexibility to limit which kids make it through the schoolhouse doors — creating exclusive, disproportionately white schools.

They do this in a variety of ways: Some pick from preferred attendance zones. Some don’t offer school bus transportation. Others require expensive uniforms.

Lake Oconee Academy is one of 115 charters around the country at which the percentage of white students is at least 20 points higher than at any of the traditional public schools in the districts where they are located, according to an investigation by The Hechinger Report and the Investigative Fund, produced in collaboration with NBC News. The analysis used the most recent year of federal enrollment data, for the 2015-16 school year. The 20-percentage-point difference is often used to define schools as “racially identifiable.”

These 115 charters, which together enrolled nearly 48,000 children, were concentrated in just a handful of states. In 2016, California had 33 racially identifiable white charters, Texas was home to 19 and Michigan, 14. At nearly 63 points, the gap between the percentages of white students at Lake Oconee Academy and at the whitest traditional public school in the area was the fourth-widest in the country.

In all, there are at least 747 public charter schools around the country that enroll a higher percentage of white students than any of the traditional public schools in the school districts where they are located.

Read the full report on nbcnews.com and watch more on “NBC Nightly News”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Georgia, Privatization, Segregation

Georgia: Republican Candidate for Governor Pushed Voucher Bill to Prevent Waltons Giving $3 Million to His Rival

By dianeravitch
June 8, 2018 //
18

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagney, the Republican candidate for Governor, admitted in a secret recording that he pushed a very bad voucher bill to passage, because if he didn’t, the Walton family would give $3 Million to his opponent in the Republican primary.

What a creep. He sold out public schools and the children of Georgia for fear of Walton money going to his rival.

Categories Character, Corruption, Georgia, Walton Foundation

Georgia: State’s First Virtual Charter School Will Close

By dianeravitch
April 10, 2018 //
3

 

Maureen Downey reports that Georgia’s first virtual charter high school will close. It enrolls some 2,000 at-risk students.

What shallow thinkers (the nicest term that comes to mind) concluded that students who were struggling needed to sit in front of computers, rather than getting the time and attention of a trained professional? Were they trying to cut costs? Surely, the deciders did not have the well-being of the students in mind.

Categories Georgia, Virtual Charter Schools

Georgia: Chair of Senate Education Committee Resigns to Protest Extra $$$ for Charters

By dianeravitch
April 5, 2018 //
11

 

State Senator Lindsey Tippins resigned as chair of Georgia’s Senate Education Committee to protest a bill giving more money to charter schools than to public schools.  

“House Bill 787 passed the House and landed in the Senate Education Committee. Tippins said he spoke with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, letting him know he could not in good conscience pass the bill out of his committee. According to Tippins, while charter schools were asking for more money, there are 577,000 traditional public school students in 46 school districts already receiving less funding than the average charter schools receive.”

Tippins is considered the most effective advocate for public schools in the Georgia Legislature.

I hope Senator Tippins changes his mind. Meanwhile I name him to the Honor Roll as a champion of children and a man of principle.

“What triggered that decision involves a bill that seeks more money for charter schools, one Tippins believes is not fair or equitable to traditional public schools. The bill would give charter schools the average of what all school districts receive in state and local funding and in equalization, costing an additional $17.9 million a year.

“My problem with that is charter schools had a funding formula, but you have to realize that charter schools don’t have to take every kid that comes in the front door,” said Tippins, a former chairman of the Cobb Board of Education. “They don’t have to provide all the services that are provided, and they can also dismiss kids because of disciplinary reasons and send them back to public school, so while they may not be earning the average that public schools earn, they don’t have the average problems that public schools have either, because they have a select clientele….

”And if the bill giving them more money passes, the number of traditional students who would receive less in state and local funding for maintenance and operations would rise to 1,150,000 in 90 school districts.

“Were the state to bring all students in Georgia’s public schools up to the level of funding the charter schools receive now, it would cost an additional $170 million. If the charter school funding was increased with the bill’s passage, Tippins said, it would cost the state an additional $510 million to close the gap between what charter schools then received and what public schools were getting.

“Tippins wanted to know how he would tell a school system such as Jeff Davis County, the lowest funded district in the state, which receives $6,952 per student, he was voting to raise the funding charter schools received from $8,415 to $8,816.

“It’s hard for me to explain to Jeff Davis County why they’re getting about $1,450 a year less than what charter schools are getting when Jeff Davis takes any kid who walks in the door regardless of disabilities,” Tippins said.”

Tippins is a conservative Republican of the old school. He believes in public schools.

 

 

Categories Charter Schools, Funding, Georgia, Honor Roll

John Oliver on Charters

By dianeravitch
January 17, 2018 //
10

John Oliver explores the seamy side of unregulated, unsupervised charter schools.

The charter school idea sounds good. They say they will “save” poor children from “failing public schools.” They say they will be “innovative” because of their autonomy. It is easy to make promises but hard to deliver on promises when 25 years have gone by without the miracle that was expected.

Supporters of public education have found it difficult to break through to the general public about the purpose of public schools (citizenship, not test scores), about the fact that charters select students and toss out the ones they don’t want, about the fact that charters drain students and resources from public schools.

John Oliver’s video about charter schools has been viewed more than 8 million times. That is the kind of public advocacy that the billionaires have not been able to buy.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Georgia, Privatization

Georgia Reviews Low-Performing Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
June 7, 2017 //
5

Charter schools were supposed to “save poor children from low-performing public schools.”

But some of them are low-performing schools, worse than the public schools the children leave.

The State Charter School Conmission is meeting with some of the lowest performing schools to find out why they are getting such poor results.

The worst of them all is Connections Academy, the online school owned by Pearson. It dropped from a D to an F.

How do you save poor kids when they are trapped in failing charter schools and their old public schools are closed?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Georgia, Privatization

Georgia: Governor Deal Vetoes Legislation to Allow Opt Out from Testing

By dianeravitch
May 11, 2017 //
29

Rightwing corporate reformers like to go on and on about parental choice. Choice. Choice. Choice. The one choice they will not tolerate is parents who want their children to refuse the state tests. No choice! Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia vetoed a bill that would make it easier to parents to opt their children out of state standardized tests. He also blocked the possibility of students taking the tests using paper and pencil, instead of a computer. Deal was immediately hailed by Jeb Bush, who pushes computerization and digitization whenever possible. Jeb is a big support of school choice if it means vouchers and charters. He opposes parents’ right to opt out of testing. He is also a major supporter of computer-based instruction and computer-based assessment. His “Foundation for Educational Excellence” is largely funded by the software corporations that profit from standardized testing and data mining online. It has long been a goal of the corporate reform industry to use tests to “prove” that public schools are failing, that there is an “achievement gap,” and that parents should pull their children out of public schools and send them to charter schools or demand vouchers. Once that happens, the test scores don’t count anymore, because neither charters nor vouchers raise test scores or close achievement gaps. It is all a massive hoax to promote privatization.

This article appeared in Politico Pro. I am not a s

By Aubree Eliza Weaver
05/09/2017 01:52 PM EDT

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal today vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for students to opt out of taking standardized tests.

House Bill 425 included provisions discouraging disciplinary action against those students who do not participate in federal, state or locally mandated standardized assessments. Additionally, it would have allowed students to complete the exams using paper and pencil, instead of a computer.

“First, as I stated in my veto of SB 133 last year, local school districts currently have the flexibility to determine opt-out procedures for students who cannot, or choose not to, take these statewide assessments and I see no need to impose an addition layer of state-level procedures for these students,” Deal said in a statement.

He also said that reverting to paper-and-pencil exams would make it harder for the state to return test data to districts quickly and goes against the state’s priority of reducing opportunities for students to cheat.

Deal’s decision was lauded by the Foundation for Excellence in Education, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

“The proposal would have harmed students and teachers by denying access to measurements that track progress on standardized assessments,” the advocacy group, founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said in a statement. “Maintaining a transparent and accountable measurement systems is critical to ensuring students are on track to succeed in college and beyond — and indicates how successful schools are in preparing students for the future.”

To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/education/whiteboard/2017/05/georgia-governor-vetoes-opt-out-measure-087474

This article appeared in Politico Pro. I am not a subscriber because it costs $3,500 a year, the last time I checked. Too rich for my taste.

Categories Accountability, Corporate Reformers, Data and Data Mining, Education Industry, Georgia, Hoax, Opt Out, Parents, Privatization, Standardized Testing, Technology, Testing

Setback for Camelot Education as a Result of ProPublica-Slate Expose

By dianeravitch
April 12, 2017 //
5

ProPublica won a Pulitzer Prize this past week for its excellent journalism.

Only days ago, ProPublica and Slate published an expose of a for-profit education company called Camelot, which operates alternative schools. As a result of their story, a district in Georgia has delayed adoption of a $6.3 million contract for three months, to learn more about Camelot and its methods. This story was co-published with Slate.

The Muscogee County School Board in Columbus, Georgia, dealt another blow to embattled Camelot Education when it voted Monday night to delay for three months a decision on whether to hire the company to run its alternative education programs.

The delay in awarding the $6.4 million annual contract comes in the wake of a recent report by ProPublica and Slate that more than a dozen Camelot students were allegedly shoved, beaten or thrown by staff members — incidents almost always referred to as “slamming.” The for-profit Camelot runs alternative programs across the country for more than 3,000 students, most of whom have emotional or behavioral difficulties or have fallen far behind academically.

“The abuse allegations were one of many red flags for me,” said Muscogee school board member Frank Myers, one of five board members who supported postponement, while three were opposed. If the district is going to privatize such an important service, he said, “You ought to have an outfit that has a pristine record.”

The board bucked the wishes of school district officials, including Superintendent of Education David Lewis, who pushed to hire Camelot. “There was no transparency,” Myers said. “They wanted us to rush this thing.”

Instead, a community advisory council will be created, and additional public hearings will be held. The council is expected to report back within three months.

Efforts to reach Lewis were unsuccessful. Camelot spokesman Kirk Dorn said in an email that the company often encounters delays when it enters new partnerships. The company expects to meet with the community later this month “and will continue to ensure that those who still have questions get answers,” Dorn said. “We know from experience that the more a community learns about how we help students succeed the more reassured they become that we will be an asset.”

Camelot has faced recent setbacks in other states as well. On March 9, the day after the report was published, the Houston school board voted unanimously not to renew its contract with Camelot, instead bringing management of its alternative program in house. And a Philadelphia city councilwoman called for more information about the city’s alternative schools, including their disciplinary practices.

About half a million people in the United States attend alternative schools, which are publicly funded but often managed by private, for-profit companies such as Camelot, which was founded in 2002. They frequently serve as a last resort for struggling low-income and minority students.

Categories Discipline, For-Profit, Georgia

Georgia: Governor Wants to Take Money from Public Schools for Vouchers

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2017 //
1

Governor Nathan Deal never gives up in his effort to defund the state’s public schools. Last November, the voters soundly rejected his proposal to create a district where he could gather low-scoring schools, eliminate local control, and give them to charter operators.

Now he is back with tax credits to funnel money into vouchers.

Here is an analysis by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, which projects that this plan will cost $100 million annually by 2023:

https://gbpi.org/2017/ballooning-tax-credit-private-school-scholarships/

“State lawmakers are considering a bill that proposes to swell the annual price of Georgia’s tax credit for private school scholarships. House Bill 217 raises the cap to $100 million from the current $58 million on a program that diverts tax revenue from the state to organizations that provide private school scholarships. The tax credit would leave the state short $42 million that could be used for more proven investments, including high quality childcare, services for schools serving impoverished children or need-based financial aid for low-income students. In addition there is little information about who participates in the program and none about its impact on student learning. In 2015 Gov. Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission outlined recommendations to increase the program’s transparency and report more information about participants. The recommendations are not yet adopted.

“Overview of Proposal

“Under current law, taxpayers can receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in exchange for contributions to a student scholarship organization. Individuals can donate up to $1,000, couples up to $2,500 and corporations up to $10,000 each year. The annual cap on contributions is $58 million.

“Students can receive a scholarship if they are Georgia residents eligible to enroll in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten or first grade or attend a public school for six weeks. The attendance requirement is waived if the student is otherwise required to attend a public school identified as low performing, suffered from a documented case of bullying or is homeschooled for at least one year.

“The proposal outlined in HB 217 increases the cap by 10 percent annually if contributors claimed the total amount of available tax the prior year until the $100 million cap is reached.”

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Funding, Georgia, Privatization, School Choice

Myra Blackmon: Georgia Doesn’t Need Vouchers

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2017 //
2

Myra Blackmon writes for Online Athens in Georgia.

In this post, she explains why vouchers are not needed in Georgia.

 

With the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as U.S. secretary of education, we can expect to see a flurry of new “initiatives” designed to address the so-called education problem in our country. For the moment, let’s set aside the relationship of poverty and poor academic achievement. Ignore for a moment the fact that our schools are actually performing pretty well.

“We will likely see a renewed push for voucher programs, where parents can supposedly take the tax money allocated for their children and use it to enroll them in private, religious or charter schools, many of which are combinations of those categories.

“If I believed vouchers would improve educational outcomes for Georgia’s poorest children, I would be the first to jump on that bandwagon. The reality is that even vouchers aren’t likely to improve the lives of the 600,000 Georgia children who live in poor or low-income families, despite efforts of reformers to convince us otherwise.

“First, it will be almost impossible to set a fair amount for a voucher. I spent over an hour looking at websites of private schools in all parts of the state. I found tuition ranges from around $4,000 a year to $26,000 a year. One site says the average elementary school tuition is almost $9,000, and high school almost $11,000. How do you determine an amount that would give children “the best education?”

“Second, not all non-public schools are open to all children. The majority of private schools in Georgia are religious schools, many of which set very strict standards for admission that have little or nothing to do with academic potential. They would exclude children from families of same-sex couples, or families whose moral standards are, in the judgment of the school, not consistent with the school’s values. That might exclude children whose parents are not married, or who were behavioral problems at their previous school.

“Third, few private schools provide special education. Of those that do, many limit that special education to mild learning disabilities, or limit them to mild ADHD or other learning differences. The private special education schools I found charged tuition upward of $25,000 a year, and even they don’t address severe or complex disabilities. Only public schools are required to meet all those needs.”

There is more. Read it all.

 

 

Categories Education Reform, Georgia, Vouchers
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