The General Assembly earlier this year passed legislation creating the sixth and current 20-member committee, including key legislators, State School Superintendent John Barge and newly appointed University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby.

The committee will look at revamping or replacing the QBE formula, which officials say has not really been adjusted through the years to take into account schools’ increasing need for technology or issues such as the rising costs of textbooks.

But the committee’s work could go far beyond — covering a myriad of other funding issues from charter schools and school choice to virtual schools and private-school scholarships. It also takes place as local school systems have collectively taken more than $1 billion in state austerity cuts and have been forced to cut programs and furlough teachers.

For the rest of the article, go to Committee begins to scrutinize public school funding

Since virtual schools are statewide and cannot apply to a single school board for approval and funding, their situation is more complicated.  Because of their statewide enrollments, they can’t ask a single local school system to adopt and fund them, as the Museum School of Avondale and Peachtree Hope Charter successfully did in DeKalb Monday.

Instead, the virtuals have to petition the state Board of Education for a charter. State board approval will allow Provost to open but at reduced funding as state board schools only earn state funding. They get no local dollars for their students.

For the rest of the article, go to An online charter school travels south Georgia in search of rejection

Despite initial pessimism from some charter school advocates, both the Cherokee and Gwinnett boards of education appear open to two  charter schools whose futures were jeopardized by a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision.

The high court ruled that a state commission created by the Legislature in 2008 could not approve charter schools over the objections of the local boards. The commission had approved 16 such schools, most of which now must be legitimatized by their local boards to continue to operate. (There are also statewide virtual schools in the mix, and their fate remains unclear.)

For the rest of the article, go to Gwinnett willing to work with Ivy Prep to keep charter school alive. Lawmakers meet Friday.

In addition to two schools for the deaf and one for the blind authorized by the Georgia Department of Education, the Georgia Charter Schools Commission has authorized 16 charter schools. (There are also more than 100 charter schools authorized by local school boards.)

These schools cover the state, from Cherokee County in North Georgia, Calhoun County in southwest Georgia, Bulloch County in southeast Georgia, several in metro Atlanta and three virtual schools open to students throughout Georgia. Families are literally standing in line to attend: In one school more than 2,500 students applied for 995 openings.

These commission-authorized charter schools, like all charter schools, are public schools in every sense. They are publicly funded, cannot charge tuition, must administer all state-mandated tests and must admit any student who applies until enrollment is filled.

Georgia is one of 15 states that allow their state Department of Education or another public entity to authorize charter schools. Without this option, local school boards have monopoly power over decisions to provide students with public school options.

For the rest of the article, go to Supremes’ charter school misfire

It took more than 100 pages to debate the meaning of just one word. In the end, Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 vote this week that most state-authorized charter schools do not meet the definition of the word “special.” Barring other actions, 15,000 public school students who faced uncertainty for months must now search for another school to attend before the new school year begins in August. One thing is certain: We cannot allow Georgia to be known as the state that shuts down quality public schools.

In addition to two schools for the deaf and one for the blind authorized by the Georgia Department of Education, the Georgia Charter Schools Commission has authorized 16 charter schools. (There are also more than 100 charter schools authorized by local school boards.) These schools cover the state, from Cherokee County in North Georgia, Calhoun County in southwest Georgia, Bulloch County in southeast Georgia, several in metro Atlanta and three virtual schools open to students throughout Georgia. Families are literally standing in line to attend: In one school more than 2,500 students applied for 995 openings.

For the rest of the article, go to A Temporary Setback for Education in Georgia

“We are extremely pleased and honored that Dr. Henson has accepted the leadership role at Provost Academy,” said Sherri Brown Breunig, a long-time Georgia public school educator and chairman of the Provost Academy board. “She is a unique professional educator, with a vast knowledge of learning from middle school through college, and she will add tremendous value and quality to the education experience our students receive.”

Dr. Henson, a resident of Jasper, Georgia, began her career as an English teacher in the Gwinnett County (GA) School District; she went on to work as a teacher and administrator in North Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California, holding a series of progressively responsible positions, including department chair, dean of curriculum and instruction, principal, and regional director. A consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and a trainer and mentor for The New Teacher Project, Dr. Henson most recently provided a wide range of educational consulting services to traditional, charter and virtual schools.

For the rest of the article, go to Accomplished Educator & Administrator Dr. Monica Henson to Lead Provost Academy Georgia