Thanks for Ruling the Charter School Commission Unconstitutional. It IS!
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, June 17, 2011
By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Good morning, Jim. The Georgia Supreme Court was right-on when it voted 4 to 3 against the Commission on Charter Schools! We need more constitutional judges! Charter schools are and have always been unconstitutional in Georgia, but they were implemented, anyway. During the charter schools debate in the ’90s, legislators were reminded of this from the State Constitution: “Each school system shall be under the management and control of a board of education, the members of which shall be elected as provided by law,” and that has not changed.
To that, the senator carrying the charter school bill said, “We’re redefining local control,” but they did not redefine local control. They simply passed a law that defied the constitution. They also failed to acknowledge that elected members of a local school board are not authorized to transfer to another person or entity the power of that office.
People often say parents control charter schools, but charter applications prove that to be untrue. Charter schools are controlled by appointed advisory councils that always include one or two parents, but they are outnumbered by administrators, educators and other professionals. So, appointed councils for charter schools replace elected boards of education, meaning local control over education is completely gone.
After the law passed in Georgia and local boards of education failed to charter several schools, legislators passed another law allowing schools to be chartered by the State Board of Education, which is appointed, not elected. Soon, another law passed to allow the chartering of entire school systems in one fell swoop. Then, local and state schools boards were taken completely out of the process in 2008 when legislators passed a law creating the Commission on Charter Schools. A lawsuit challenged its constitutionality and on May 16, 2011 the Georgia Supreme Court ruled the Commission unconstitutional. As a result, various uninformed and outraged legislators, educators and citizens, vowing to rescue charter schools, rallied at the Capitol.
It is strange that elected officials so willingly and easily embrace a program contrary to the State Constitution they vowed to uphold in their oath of office. It’s even stranger that states so blithely adopt unconstitutional charter schools with all their federal strings. Charter schools began under the first President Bush, was expanded under Clinton and legalized in Georgia, despite the State Constitution and U.S. Constitution that leaves control of education to states, not the federal government. Incidentally, the commitment to charter schools is the primary reason Georgia received a $400 million Race to the Top grant that (duh!) promotes charter schools and allows a total take-over or closure of schools that deviate from the federal plan.
Here’s the irony. Under local control, students left high school educated. They could read, write, spell, do math and go to work or college. They were educated. Schools were not job-training institutes. Now, students graduate functionally illiterate and need remedial courses to get into college. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.