Editorial: In Georgia, a Victory for Choice

According to an Augusta Chronicle editorial, Georgia voters sent an unequivocal message by passing Amendment 1 last Tuesday: “Georgians want more school choice.” Voters approved the amendment, which will allow the re-creation of a statewide commission to approve public charter schools, by nearly 60 percent. Such a commission “gives local parents, students and teachers the right to seek charter school approval from the state when the local school board won’t allow it – and school boards have routinely disallowed the applications…Charter schools are granted unique freedom over rules and curricula in order to bring more innovation to education. We believe if everyone in Georgia understood that, the vote would have been closer to 80 or 90 percent in favor. We also think it’s high time that the public education bureaucracy stopped fighting educational reform, choice and competition. Americans are crying out for it – and, increasingly, are demanding it.”

Source: Augusta Chronicle

In Georgia, Looking Ahead After Passage of Charter Schools Amendment

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the seven members of Georgia’s re-established charter schools commission will be recommended by the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives and appointed by the state Board of Education no later than its February meeting. The commission will hear appeals from charter applicants rejected by their local school boards and those with statewide attendance zones. Mark Peevy, who headed the old charter schools commission, said he expects six or seven applications to be approved during the re-established commission’s first few years. He also expects local school boards, aware that charter applicants can appeal to the commission if rejected, to approve more charters. State schools Superintendent John Barge, who opposed the amendment re-establishing the commission, said he is now “ready to work with the Charter School Commission to ensure the children of Georgia have access to high quality charter schools.”

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In Washington, Supporters of Charter Schools Declare Victory, Despite Uncounted Ballots

According to the Seattle Times and KIRO TV, supporters of Washington’s Initiative 1240 declared a victory Saturday with about 90 percent of ballots counted. Although about 400,000 ballots still need to be counted, I-1240 is leading with 51 percent of the votes. "This is a clear victory for Washington students and parents, and for public education in our state," said Chris Korsmo, CEO of the League of Education Voters, a founding member of the Washington Coalition for Public Charter Schools. "Washington now joins 41 other states across the country in offering the option of public charter schools for parents and students." I-1240 is leading by about 41,000 votes, but and opponents of the measure said Saturday evening that they will not concede until every vote has been counted.

Sources: Seattle Times , KIRO TV

Charter School Measures in Washington, Georgia a ‘Significant Development’

Jeff Reed, a spokesperson for the nationwide Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, told the Idaho Reporter that ballot measures expanding public charter schools in Washington and Georgia were “a significant development.” “The fact that school choice would be supported in both a very ‘Red State’ like Georgia and a very ‘Blue State’ like Washington tells us that educational choice is a nonpartisan issue,” Reed said. “It really is about putting students and their parents first, and not about political affiliations.”

Source: Idaho Reporter

In Albany, Charter Accountability Paying Off

In an Albany Times-Union column, Brighter Choice Foundation Executive Director Chris Bender writes that a list of high-performing and failing schools issued recently by New York’s Education Department “painted a clear picture of the reality of school performance in Albany.” All of Albany’s public charter schools were deemed “in good standing,” meeting or exceeding the criteria for academic progress and performance; none of the city’s district schools earned that designation. State test scores released in July showed that Albany’s charter schools were outperforming statewide averages in every high-need demographic and subgroup. The U.S. Department of Education recently named the Albany Community Charter School a National Blue Ribbon School. “Albany's charter schools aren't here to ‘just get by,’” Bender writes. “They're here to meet, and surpass, specific achievement goals laid forth in their charter…Schools — charter or district — should not remain open if efforts to change do not produce positive academic results…In Albany, the choice is increasingly clear.”

Source: Albany Times-Union