Atlanta, GA, Sept. 18, 2014 — The growth of public charter schools remains an issue in the upcoming Georgia elections. Two of the three gubernatorial candidates, Governor Nathan Deal (Republican), and Andrew Hunt (Libertarian) expressed support for expanded charter school options by completing a questionnaire fielded by the Georgia Charter SchoolsAssociation (GCSA).
Asked about the role of independent public charter schools in K-12 education in Georgia, Governor Deal said, “Innovation, flexibility and accountability are fundamental building blocks to driving student achievement in K-12 education, and charter schools are catalysts for improvement and reform within a system that has long been burdened by bureaucracy and inflexibility due to top-down control.”
On the same question, candidate Andrew Hunt said, “I believe charter schools are the key to Georgia becoming a top-20 state in education. Any school system operating at 75% or lower in graduation rates needs massive change. These underperformers can be rapidly improved just like the New Orleans turnaround in education, by a complete changeover to a charter school system. With self-governing schools we can cut administration costs by over 80% and these savings can go into funding a long school day and year.”
Gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter, (Democrat) has not returned the questionnaire. GCSA continues to reach out to his campaign team about the request.
“Families with children want to know that there will be quality education options like public charter schools made available to them,” said Tony Roberts, President & CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association. “We hope that these surveys will better inform the public about the level of support for such options from the gubernatorial candidates in Georgia.”
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The Georgia Charter Schools Association is the charter school membership organization for all of Georgia and is the only entity in the state whose sole purpose supporting and advancing Georgia’s charter school sector. The mission of the Georgia Charter Schools Association is to improve student achievement and promote educational choice by serving and advocating for public charter schools in Georgia.
