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Education

Is Gov. Deal’s school takeover plan really dead?

Gov. Nathan Deal just appointed former legislator Mike Cheokas to the State Board of Education. Although there’s no definitive information available about what this means, it does give me pause. Cheokas lost his seat to Democrat Bill McGowan during the past election, in part over his support of Gov. Nathan Deal’s failed school takeover measure. The State Board of Education (SBOE) is tasked with supporting the state superintendent. The state super, Richard Woods, is someone

Georgia 2016

Three reasons Georgia’s school takeover has failure written all over it

Gary Henry, a Vanderbilt professor who has studied school takeover attempts in Tennessee, Louisiana and North Carolina, examined the legislation for Deal’s so-called “Opportunity School District” and believes it has failure written all over it. Charter schools need good teachers but often don’t attract them. Successful teachers want to work in schools that are humane, supportive and dynamic. Charter schools, especially privately-run ones, are unfortunately known for their terrible treatment of teachers: long hours, anti-union sentiments,

Education

Ga. Charter School Founder Siphons Money for Strip Club Visits

Georgia’s kids continue to get the short end of the stick — or should I say “stripper pole” — when it comes to education. Charter schools in Georgia have grown in popularity in recent years because of conservatives’ push to privatize everything at the expense of the state’s most vulnerable students. Now, the conservative “solution” to our education problems is costing Georgians more than they bargained for. The Latin Academy was a charter school in Atlanta. It purported

Education

Deal’s school takeover plan a failure from the start

The hotly contested education reform championed by Gov. Nathan Deal will be on the November ballot. Called the “Opportunity School District (OSD)” by supporters, the measure is really a school takeover plan, designed to benefit for-profit charter schools and their proponents, at the expense of funding a public education for all students. Gov. Deal claims that this bill is about school performance — but there isn’t one word in the legislation about strategies to improve

Education

Voters sue Gov. Deal over deceptive charter school ballot question

Beverly Hedges, a Dalton teacher, and the Rev. Timothy McDonald, senior pastor at First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta, filed a lawsuit today in the Superior Court of Fulton County asking for a declaration that the ballot language presented to voters for Amendment 1 is purposely misleading. Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp are named in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Gov. Deal intentionally used ballot language that

Students teach Georgia voters about charter schools amendment

A YouTube video from the Southern Education Foundation featuring two high school students laid out some of the key arguments against Amendment 1, which is disguised on the ballot as a charter school measure. Click to watch the video. Sign our pledge to Vote ‘No’ on Amendment 1.  Join us on Facebook: Better Georgia Schools.