Education Hb 797

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Publication year: 2010
• Citation: Vol. 29 No. 1

Georgia State University Law Review

Volume 29 j 2

Issue 1 Fall 2012

4-3-2013

Education HB 797

Georgia State University Law Review

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Recommended Citation

Georgia State University Law Review (2013) "Education HB 797," Georgia State University Law Review: Vol. 29: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/gsulr/vol29/iss1/2

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EDUCATION

Elementary and Secondary Education: Propose an Amendment to the Constitution of Georgia so as to Clarify the Authority of the

State to Establish State-Wide Education Policy; Restate the Authority of the General Assembly to Establish Special Schools;

Provide that Special Schools Include State Charter Schools; Provide for Related Matters; Provide for the Submission of this Amendment for Ratification or Rejection; and for Other Purposes

Code Sections: Ga. Const. art. VIII, § 1, para. 1

the Georgia Constitution that grant authority to the state to authorize charter schools. The resolution specifically prohibits the spending of local money on state-authorized charter schools. The resolution must be ratified by a statewide vote in November 2012.

Elementary and Secondary Education: Amend Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Education, so as to

Repeal an Article Relating to the Georgia Charter Schools Commission; Provide for Legislative Findings and Intent; Provide for Definitions; Provide for the Establishment of the State Charter Schools Commission; Provide for Its Membership, Duties, and Powers; Provide for Requirements for State Charter Schools; Provide for Information to Parents; Provide for an Annual Report; Provide for Financial Responsibility; Provide for Funding for State Charter Schools; Provide for Rules and Regulations; Revise Provisions Relating to Funding for State Chartered Special

Bill Number: Act Number: Georgia Laws: Summary:

(amended); art. VIII, § 5, para. 1

(amended); art. VIII, § 5, para. 7

(amended)

HR 1162

762

2012 Ga. Laws 1364

The resolution proposes amendments to

2 GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 29:1

Schools; Provide for Related Matters; Provide for Contingent Effectiveness; Provide for Automatic Repeal Under Certain Conditions; Repeal Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes

Code Sections:

Bill Number: Act Number: Georgia Laws: Summary:

Effective Date:

O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-2068.1, -2080 to -2092 (amended) HB 797 766

2012 Ga. Laws 1298 The Act amends several sections of the Georgia Code relating to the creation and funding of charter schools by the State. The Act provides for the creation of a State Charter School Commission that may authorize charter schools. it further provides and clarifies the funding mechanisms for state-chartered schools, the process of nominating and selecting Commission members, the duties of the Commission, and the rules and regulations pertaining to state-authorized charter schools. O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2068.1, July 1, 2012;

§§ 20-2-2080 to -2092, January 1,

2013.¹

Introduction

This Article considers the proposed amendments to the Georgia Constitution regarding charter schools—House Resolution (HR) 1162—and its associated enabling legislation—House Bill (HB) 797. The legislation package is, for the most part, the General Assembly's response to the Supreme Court of Georgia's May 2011 decision in Gwinnett County Public Schools v. Cox,² which invalidated the 2008 Charter Schools Commission Act and held that local school boards

1. Portions of HB 797 become effective only if Georgia citizens ratify HR 1162 at the ballot box in November 2012.

2. See infra note 270.

have "exclusive local control" of public education.³ Part I of the Article traces the history and background of education in Georgia and includes a brief review of constitutional and statutory developments relevant to charter schools. Additionally, Part I provides a brief introduction to the concept of a charter school and concludes with a summary of both the majority and dissenting opinions in Cox.

Part II tracks the journey of HR 1162 through the House and Senate and provides details of the deliberative process, including discussion of key tension points in the debates, amendments, and votes in committee and on the floor of each chamber. Part III provides a similar analysis for HB 797. Part IV and Part V, respectively, describe the substantive content of HR 1162 and HB 797 as passed by both chambers of the General Assembly. Part VI offers an objective analysis that considers the arguments of both supporters and opponents of the charter school legislation package. This Article concludes by referring to the upcoming ballot question asking voters, in effect, to decide whether to abrogate the Cox decision and allow the State to authorize charter schools over the objection of a local board of education.

History and Background

From James Oglethorpe to Nathan Deal: The Evolution of Georgia's Educational Resources

In 1732, the Trustees of the new colony in Georgia received a donation of one thousand spelling books from James Leake of London.⁴ Later that summer "over two thousand books . . . were given for a public library in the colony."⁵ When James Oglethorpe landed at Savannah early the next year with his own charter in hand, a minister and a schoolmaster joined him; together, these three "college-bred men" attended to the "governmental, educational and spiritual needs" of the thirty-five families settling the new colony.⁶

3. Gwinnett Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. Cox, 289 Ga. 265, 265, 710 S.E.2d 773, 775 (2011).

4. Haygood S. Bowden, Two Hundred Years of Education: Bicentennial 1733-1933, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia 45 (1932).

5. Id.

6. Id. at xiii, 19, 45.

4 GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 29:1

Today, nearly three hundred years later, some 1.7 million students attend roughly 2,300 individual public schools in Georgia.⁷ The state "spend[s] more on public education than on anything else"⁸ and appropriates roughly $7 billion each year to fund its K-12 public schools.⁹ Despite all this, public education in Georgia today is underfunded by $1.1 billion.¹⁰

The Pendulum of Power: A Brief Constitutional History

The history of public education in Georgia is complicated.¹¹ Ten different constitutions and a variety of statutory enactments have, in one way or another, impacted the balance of power in the educational context.¹² The original 1777 Constitution provided that "schools shall be erected in each county and supported at the general expense of the State, as the legislature shall hereafter point out and direct."¹³ After the Civil War, the 1868 Constitution provided that "the general assembly . . . shall provide a thorough system of general education, to be forever free to all children of the State, the expense of which shall be provided for by taxation or otherwise."¹⁴ Two years later, in 1870, the General Assembly enacted comprehensive education legislation that, among other things, established the State Board of Education, created school districts in each Georgia county to manage the schools located there, and allowed for state creation of separately authorized schools aside from those managed by the new county school

7. Cox, 289 Ga. 265, 294, 710 S.E.2d 773, 794 (Nahmias, J., dissenting) (citations omitted).

8. Id. at 314, 710 S.E.2d at 807.

9. The Governor's Budget Report: Amended Fiscal Year 2011, at 14 (2011), available at http://opb.georgia.gov/sites/opb.georgia.gov/files/imported/vgn/images/portal/cit_1210/41/38/16720516 8State%20of%20Georgia%20Budget%20Amended%20FY2011.pdf.

10. See Telephone Interview with J. Alvin Wilbanks, Superintendent of Gwinnett County Public Schools (June 22, 2012) [hereinafter Wilbanks Interview]. For example, Superintendent Wilbanks indicated that Gwinnett County's public school budget had been cut by $631 million as a result of austerity reductions since 2003. Id. The State has $113.3 million in reductions slated for Gwinnett County during fiscal year 2012-2013. Id.

11. See generally Cox, 289 Ga. at 280-94, 710 S.E.2d at 785-94 (detailing history of public education in Georgia); McDaniel v. Thomas, 248 Ga. 632, 649-59, 285 S.E.2d 156, 168-75 (1981) (same); Dorothy Orr, A History of Education in Georgia (1950) (same).

12. For a detailed discussion of the constitutional and statutory evolution, from which much of this section is adapted, see Cox, 289 Ga. at 280-94, 710 S.E.2d at 785-94 (Nahmias, J., dissenting).

13. Cox, 289 Ga. at 280, 710 S.E.2d at 785 (quoting Ga. Const. of 1777, art. LIV).

14. Id. at 280-81, 710 S.E.2d at 785 (quoting Ga. Const. of 1868) (internal alterations omitted).

districts.¹⁵ An 1872 change to this law clarified the right of cities or counties to create their own independent schools.¹⁶ Following Reconstruction, the 1877 Constitution provided that "[t]here shall be a thorough system of common schools for the education of children in the elementary branches . . . , as nearly uniform as practicable, the expenses of which shall be provided for by taxation, or otherwise."¹⁷ Like the one before it, the 1877 Constitution "did not mention county 'boards of education' or assign them the authority to establish and control local schools."¹⁸

In 1906, the General Assembly passed a law "requiring every county board of education in Georgia to divide the county into school districts with clear boundary lines" that were authorized to raise their own money and manage their own schools.¹⁹ By 1945—for a variety of reasons both economic and social—there were approximately 2,000 school systems in Georgia.²⁰ As a result, the 1945 Constitution consolidated control in one county-wide Board of...