Online charter school supporters lobby for charter school amendment, additional funding
Hundreds of online charter school students, parents and teachers came to the state Capitol Wednesday to ask state Senators to approve a constitutional amendment to allow the state to create charter schools. The measure comes after a Georgia Supreme Court decision which declared state formed charter schools unconstitutional.
Online charter school supporters say the constitutional amendment would ensure the legality of state created charter schools. That includes two online charter schools which currently exist in the state. Austell Parent Jay Young has two children enrolled in the Georgia Cyber Academy.
“I’m fairly concerned about it if it doesn’t pass. We’ve been in public school, we’ve been in charter school and we’ve been back to public school. We’re now in a virtual school and this seems to be the best place for our family dynamic right now, so we’re fairly concerned.
Parents and students also lobbied for supporting legislation, which could lead to thousands of additional dollars per online student if the amendment passes.
Elisa Hugg is vice president of Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education.
“These are real students. They are working just as hard as brick and mortar students. There’s no reason they should receive differential funding or differential treatment.”
Those against the charter school amendment and its supporting legislation say passage would allow charter schools to receive funding that they believe should go to traditional schools.
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