BOE considers charter system benefits

The Barrow County Board of Education met Thursday to discuss whether the county school system should convert to a charter system.

Like charter schools, a charter system is a publicly funded entity that operates under a charter. The charter exempts the system or school from certain legislative requirements, but requires that goals be specifically defined within the charter and that the system or school be held responsible for meeting those goals within a specified time period.

Currently, over 1.3 million students nationwide are enrolled in over 3,900 existing charter schools.

Dr. Pat Stokes, educational consultant and retired superintendent of Morgan County Schools, is currently working with three school systems to help them obtain charter status.

According to Stokes, transitioning to a charter system would allow Barrow County Schools flexibility in tailoring instruction and class size in order to meet educational goals.

"It just opens doors for you if you have the time, energy and inclination to do things more imaginatively than before," she said.

Charter system status would also prevent any other individual or organization from starting a charter school within the Barrow school district and siphoning off state funds. Under current law, charter schools are eligible for a portion of any state funding allocated to a school district. If a charter school were to open in Barrow County, the school system would have no choice but to provide a portion of state and local revenue to support the students within that school while having no authority over the school itself.

A possible downside of the charter system is that responsibility is shifted to the school level. Each school within the system would be governed by a school council comprised of parents who make recommendations to the school board. The principals at each school would be also responsible for accountability and management of the school's budget. The system would set an overall budget and then allocate funds to each school. The principal would make staffing and purchasing decisions based on the school's individual goals.

Earlier in the week, board members had discussed the need to "think outside the box" in addressing the problems identified in the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) report.

"I think this might give us the tools and the ways and the means to do something like that," said Auburn Elementary principal Shawn Williams.

MORE MANDATES

If Barrow County does not apply for charter status, the system is facing tougher legislative mandates by 2013.

In April, Governor Perdue signed House Bill 1209 into law. The legislation will allow school systems to enter into a contract with the state in which the system may be granted exemptions from certain state requirements in exchange for greater accountability and defined consequences.

By 2013, all school systems must either enter into a contract with the Georgia Board of Education, or opt to continue operations under current legislation. Charter schools are exempt from the new requirement.

While there are similarities between the state contract and school charters, the consequences for failure are very different.

If a school system operating under a charter fails to meet performance goals, the charter may be revoked and the system reverts back to its original status. If a school system operating under a contract with the state fails to meet performance goals, that system may lose governance. By law, the state could give control of the school to a private organization, convert the school to a charter school with a school-level governing board or give control to a more successful school system.

School board chairman William Bramlett said the new legislation increases state input into local government.

"It undermines the local school system and pushes them out the door," he said.

UP NEXT

The goal of Thursday night's meeting was to determine if the Board was interested in pursuing a system charter. While no official vote was taken, the majority expressed a willingness to take the idea before the public and school administrators to gather input before proceeding further.

Dist. 7 representative Dan Cromer voiced the majority opinion that the opinions of school principals and administrators were vital to the process.

"We have qualified people and we need to listen to them," he said.