Business & Tech

4 Legislators Discuss Charter Schools

The Cherokee Chamber of Commerce event draws a full house Friday morning.

The ongoing charter school debate dominated conversation at a Cherokee town-hall meeting Friday morning at the Woodstock Community Center. 

Two Republican state senators, Jack Murphy of Cumming and Chip Rogers of Woodstock, and two Republican state representatives, Sean Jerguson of Holly Springs and Mark Hamilton of Cumming, came to the Cherokee Chamber of Commerce's open-forum event. 

From the first question, it was clear what Cherokee residents have been thinking about: getting that charter school. 

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Jerguson described the week as after the state Supreme Court ruled the state charter school commission unconstitutional.

Jerguson said he is pushing for a constitutional amendment that will enable charter schools across the state, as Tuesday outside the state Capitol. For now, the charter school in Cherokee County awaits a decision from the county Board of Education, which .

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If the Cherokee Board of Education rules favorably for Cherokee Charter Academy, the revised charter will go to the state superintendent, Jerguson said.

Audience members questioned the reason for having charter schools, prompting the legislators to delve into the problems facing the state’s education system.

“What, simply, a charter school is, is giving parents a choice of how they want to educate that child,” Jerguson said. “How, as a parent, do I enable my child to be the best that they can be?”

Rogers said charter schools maintain an 80 percent graduation rate and operate at 70 cents on the dollar.

Rogers explained the current situation as “adults fighting adults over turf” for school locations, instead of putting the interest of the students first.

“The best school in Georgia is not the best school for every student in the state of Georgia,” Rogers said. “The worst school in Georgia is not the worst school for every student in the state of Georgia.”

Instead, Rogers proposed a business-style model of funding the schools by placing contractors in competition with each other.

“Let there be free competition. Let the money follow the child. Open it up,” Rogers said.


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