Deal vows to help save state-approved charter schools

Savannah Morning News, Larry Peterson, 2011-06-17

Gov. Nathan Deal says he'll work with the General Assembly to bypass a recent court ruling outlawing state-approved charter schools.

Deal said Thursday that the future of such schools - publicly funded but often privately run - will be a major legislative issue next year.

The Republican governor said he'll back a proposed state constitutional amendment to set aside a recent state Supreme Court ruling.

"We know there are some situations where we need a model that does not conform to the same old pattern that we've had in the past," he said.

The governor was in the Savannah area for a re-election fundraiser, a tour, and series of meetings, speeches and visits that continue today.

The court decided in May that a law that lets the state approve and fund charter schools over the objection of local school boards violates the state constitution.

The 4-3 ruling affects an estimated 16,000 students.

Before the law was enacted in 2008, local boards, which stood to have funds diverted away from their schools, often rejected charter school proposals. But two have been approved in Chatham County.

It would take a constitutional amendment, approved by two-thirds majorities of both chambers of the legislature and by the people, to set aside the ruling.

"It's something the people of the state should have a voice in," Deal said. "And the only way they can is to have it as a constitutional proposal."

He said charter schools should be "required to justify that the tax money they are receiving is producing quality results."

But he added that, "by most accounts," nearly all state-chartered schools meet that standard.

Moreover, the governor said, they usually enroll a high percentage of minority students and ones from poor families.

"And their test results are as good or better than the public schools the children normally will be attending," Deal said.

He said he won't submit his own proposal but will cooperate with lawmakers who also support a constitutional amendment.