Charter School Bill Falls Short in State House

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Did the cause for Georgia charter schools take a step forward or backward this week? During yesterday’s session of legislature, HR 1162 failed to receive the required two-thirds votes to pass in the Georgia House of Representatives. Sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones (R-Milton), the bill allows the state to approve charter schools in counties otherwise denied by local school boards. The passage of the bill would have essentially reversed last May’s Georgia Supreme Court Decision, which prohibited the state from approving charter schools, rendering such authority unconstitutional, returning power to grant charters to local boards of education. Specifically, HR 1162 would have added an amendment to the Georgia Constitution, granting the state the authority to establish charter schools.

According to the bill,

“The General Assembly will be able to establish special schools. HR 1162 states that special schools shall include charter schools, as defined and provided for by law, provided that special schools shall only be public schools. If passed, this proposed amendment will be submitted on the ballot for ratification.”

Doubtless, the decision hits close to home. Here, in Gilmer County Oakland Academy Charter School (OACS) has pursued a charter inexorably since last May when the board of education (BOE) closed Oakland Elementary, which the BOE said it closed for financial reasons. The most recent installment of Oakland’s efforts for charter approval was a January 26th meeting held by the BOE, where Superintendent Bryan Dorsey and board members asked questions to Oakland’s Board of Trustees.

“I believe that each community should be able to continue to elect Board of Education members to determine the needs for local schools and local tax dollars,”

Superintendent Dorsey said, responding to Yesterday’s vote in the House. More emphatically, Oakland Trustee Chairman Isaac Lassiter said,

“63.9% is very close to the necessary 2/3 super-majority needed to pass HR 1162. With the political will in our state aligned with school choice, and having competition and the elimination of monopolies as pillars of our society, it is only a matter of time until a similar bill passes to allow for multiple charter school authorizing agencies. Getting 63.9% of the state house to vote for HR 1162 is so close to passing that it is in our grasps. We can break the local school district monopoly on K-12 education.”

Although the bill failed to hit the two-thirds requirement, more Representatives voted for the bill than against it, with 110 yeas, and 62 nays. Proponents of charter schools, like Lassiter, find this encouraging, despite the shortfall of votes for a Constitutional Amendment. Democrats, a minority in both Senate and House, are expected to craft a version of a charter school bill. As such, charter schools are destined to be the “perennial” issue in the 2012 session. Back home, the issue continues to breath. The Gilmer County Board of Education is expected to render a decision of Oakland’s charter application at tonight’s February 9th called meeting, scheduled for 5:30 P.M. at the Bobcat Trail location.

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