Politicians like Gov. Nathan Deal have cut billions from our local public schools, causing larger classes, fewer school days and lingering teacher furloughs.
Now, the same politicians who refused to fully fund our schools have a new scheme to “save” the schools they helped destroy.
Gov. Deal calls it an “Opportunity School District,” but the question is, “opportunity for whom?”
Certainly not for our children or teachers.
Local communities, local Boards of Education and parents will have no choice if Gov. Deal gets his way. Instead, the state will decide the fate of up to 100 of Georgia’s most vulnerable schools.
Once designated as “failing,” these schools could be left alone, managed in coordination with local school boards, turned into charter schools or closed. The state could lead a hostile takeover of some schools without any local input.
Gov. Deal knows that this scheme has already been tried, and the results are dismal.
After nine years in New Orleans, only 4 of the 107 schools taken over by the governor’s Recovery School District score above the state average.
So, why try in Georgia what has failed in Louisiana?
Because there’s big money to be made in the education industry.
The real opportunity in Gov. Deal’s plan is for out-of-state, for-profit corporations that are salivating at the chance to make millions of dollars managing dozens of new Georgia charter schools.
These are the same companies that fill politicians’ campaign coffers with cash.
Over and over again, our politicians have failed our schools. And now, they want to experiment with our most vulnerable students.
The best way to help our struggling schools succeed is to make funding education a top priority and commit to all of our schools.
Gov. Nathan Deal is determined to sell our most vulnerable schools to the highest bidder, and most people won’t even know it’s happening.