In GA if a local district rejects a charter school, a state commission can overrule.

[madfloridian]

And that state commission can order that public taxpayer money be given to that school that was not approved by the local district. The money will be moved from the public schools to the charter school. So state law can override local wishes.

From Gainesville:

State law allows independent commission to channel funds from local districts

According to its website, the Global Outreach Academy of Excellence is recruiting students from Dawson, Forsyth, Fulton, Hall and Gwinnett counties.

Dyer said the issue for some school leaders is the Charter Advisory Commission, an independent school authorizing entity which approved Global Outreach. State law allows this group to approve charter schools rejected by local school boards and transfer funding from school districts to newly appointed charter schools.

"Funding based on FTE (full-time equivalent students) would be pulled from the Forsyth County Schools and directed to the charter school," Dyer said. "They have no voice whether the school is approved, but they do have to give up funding."

The local school district feels they can provide the same services if funding remains, but they don't have a choice.

In Dawson County this week, the Board of Education voted to formally oppose the school's plans. Superintendent Keith Porter explained in a letter to the Georgia Charter Schools Commission that the district felt it could provide the same services and more than were listed in the Global Outreach charter application.

"As long as we can provide these services within our own county, it's difficult to justify funding a school in another county," the letter stated.

It seems Florida can do the same, though I thought for sure that had been changed.

Florida Consortium of Public Charters

What if a charter school application is denied?

If an application is denied by a district school board, that school board shall, within 10 calendar days, articulate in writing the specific reasons based upon good cause supporting its denial of the charter application. A charter school applicant has 30 calendar days to appeal to the State Board of Education if:

* the school board denies the charter school application
* the school board fails to render a decision on the charter school application by the specified time

Subsequent to a charter school applicant filing an appeal, the Commissioner of Education shall convene a meeting of the Charter School Appeal Commission (comprised of an equal number of members representing charter schools and school districts) to study and make recommendations to the State Board of Education regarding its pending decision about the appeal.

The commission shall forward its recommendation to the state board no later than 7 calendar days prior to the date on which the appeal is to be heard. The State Board of Education shall by majority vote accept or reject the decision of the district school board no later than 90 calendar days after an appeal is filed in accordance with State Board of Education rule. The district school board shall implement the decision of the State Board of Education.

I thought they had changed that. It really puts local districts in a financial bind. They have to send the taxpayer money with the students, and it never seems to find its way back.

[madfloridian]

1. FL state school board is all Republican pro-charter appointees.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/22/1837846/troubled-charter-school-in-florida.html

"Under state law, local school boards can grant charters -- and terminate them when a charter school is not performing or fulfilling its contract. But the state Board of Education, an appointed body, can override any action. The state board's vote this week on Rise could be a determent to local school districts trying to close what they consider failing schools.

Charter school operators often say school districts are not supportive of their schools.

The state Board of Education, however, is generally perceived as pro-charter. All seven members of the board were appointed by a Republican governor, and Florida Republicans have championed charter schools. Their argument: School choice promotes competition and raises the bar across the board.

Board of Education Chairman T. Willard Fair -- who founded Florida's first charter school with former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush -- was on the prevailing side of this week's vote to re-open Rise Academy.

``It was not an endorsement of Rise,'' Fair said. ``It was a condemnation of the process used to arrive at the decision. . . We're saying the grounds used to dismiss Rise were not the appropriate grounds."


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/22/1837846/troubled-charter-school-in-florida.html#ixzz1681j2nTu

More about the decision at the link.

This certainly takes the wind out of the sails of local school boards.

[hapkidogal]

4. An article you might want to read

http://www.truth-out.org/lessons-be-learned-from-paulo-freire-education-is-being-taken-over-mega-rich65363

[madfloridian]

5. "public schools have become intellectual dead zones and punishment centers "

"Dominated by pedagogies that are utterly instrumental, geared toward memorization, conformity and high-stakes test taking, public schools have become intellectual dead zones and punishment centers as far removed from teaching civic values and expanding the imaginations of students as one can imagine. The profound disdain for public education is evident not only in Obama's test-driven, privatized and charter school reform movement, but also in the hostile takeover of public education now taking place among the ultra-rich and hedge fund zombies, who get massive tax breaks from gaining control of charter schools. The public in education has now become the enemy of educational reform. How else can one explain the shameful appointment by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of Cathleen Black, the president of Hearst Magazine, as the next chancellor of the New York City public school system? Not only does she not have any experience in education and is totally unqualified for the job, but her background mimics the worst of elite arrogance and unaccountable power. Surely, one has to take note of the background of someone who should be a model for young people when such a background includes, as reported in The New York Times: "riding horses at a country club where blacks and Jews were not allowed .... lending a $47,000 bracelet to a Manhattan museum ... and interviews since her appointment."(1) With friends like Rupert Murduch, it should come as no surprise that she once worked as a chief lobbyist for the newspaper industry in the 1990s "fighting a ban on tobacco advertising,"(2) which is often targeted toward the young. It seems that, when it comes to the elite of business culture, ignorance about education now ranks as a virtue. Then, of course, there is the sticky question of whether such a candidate qualifies as a model of civic integrity and courage for the many teachers and children under her leadership. Public values and public education surely take a nose dive in this appointment, but this is also symptomatic of what is happening to public education throughout the country."

That is another excellent article by Giroux at truthout. Thanks for sharing.

[hapkidogal]

6. Thank You

For all the information you share. Your pieces are always very well thought out.

[laughingliberal]

2. K & R nt

[Starry Messenger]

3. k&r