Urge our Ga. state representatives to vote NO on State School Takeover
(UPDATE: Stay connected with this issue by clicking here. )
ALERT – Please urge our State representatives to vote NO on State School Takeover
The Georgia State Legislature is voting on a proposed amendment to our state constitution that will allow the Governor to take over “failing” public schools and hand them over to private for-profit corporations to run without any local oversight.
The State Senate has already voted in favor of the bill and the House could vote as early as today and definitely by April 2nd. Because it is a constitutional amendment, it will require a 2/3 majority to pass. This means that every vote matters, and reaching out to our legislators can make a real difference.
Please call or email today and ask your friends to do the same:
Savannah’s Members of the State House:
Rep. J. Craig Gordon: craig.gordon@house.ga.gov
Rep. Ron Stephens: ron.stephens@house.ga.gov
Rep. Mickey Stephens: mickey.stephens@gmail.com
Rep. Jesse Petrea: jesse.petrea@house.ga.gov
Not in Savannah? Find your state representative here:
http://openstates.org/ga/legislators/
The proposed amendment would create an “Opportunity School District” of up to 100 schools that would be run by State government using local taxpayer dollars but with no oversight from local school boards. The amendment would allow the State to turn those schools over to for-profit corporations to run.
The folks who support the takeover bill often point to the success of particular charter schools and suggest that what they are proposing is just lots of great charter schools. This is not the case. The charter schools Savannah currently has are non-profit, community-run schools chartered by our local school board. State takeover and privatization is something entirely different.
As an active member of my PTA who speaks regularly to my School Board representative and School Board President, I believe that our local elected officials are responsive to parents, care deeply about our children, and are working hard to close the gap between our low-income and middle-income students. Our low-income students definitely need more help, but I don’t believe that state takeover and privatization is the answer.
You can read more about the plan on the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s education blog: http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/
Here are a few recent news articles:
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/deals-school-takeover-plan-survives-house-committe/nkc4h/
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/03/18/the-gop-discomfort-over-nathan-deals-school-rescue-plan/
The plan is based on what happened in New Orleans. The Tulane University report claiming that was a success had to be retracted because the data was so bad:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/16/oops-never-mind-why-a-major-university-retracted-report-on-charter-schools/
This policy also created an absolute mess in Tennessee:
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2015/03/20/former-tennessee-teacher-on-state-takeover-plan-dont-do-it-kids-and-schools-lose/
Please help us avoid this mess in Georgia by reaching out to our state representatives TODAY and spreading the word to your friends.
THANK YOU!
This is a guest post by Michelle Solomon, mom to Oliver, 8, and in public school