Revamping a broken system

Dougherty County.  The name is almost synonimous with failure in education, at least among those of us who’ve lived here long enough.  The recent shenanigans at the School Board certainly haven’t helped fix that opinion in the least.  But the Dougherty County School System isn’t beyond hope.  I thought it was, but the Reason Foundation helped change my mind.

Earlier this week, they launched a series called Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey.  Cleveland suffers from a lot of the same problems that Albany does.  Like us, they have a poor economy that’s lost a lot of manufacturing jobs.  Like us, they have an educational system that is driving residents to the outlying areas.  In their series, Reason TV head honcho Nick Gillespie looks at alternative methods for education that might just help pull Cleveland, and unbeknownst to Nic,. it might help Albany out of the funk it’s been in.

One key aspected Gillespie looks at hard and heavy are charter schools.  For those who aren’t familiar with charter schools, they’re basically publicly funded private schools.  They received tax dollars and don’t charge students to go there like public schools, but enjoy a great deal more autonomy in decisions much like private schools.  These are allowed for under state law, and are definitely worth looking into.

Charter schools are shown to produce better results than normal public institutions on most tests, and there are a lot of reasons for that.  One such reason is that teachers are able to adapt their lessons to the class.  Public schools have to move at a certain pace, which isn’t exactly blistering for most students.  Charter schools, on the other hand, can move much quicker and therefore cover more ground during the school year.  This enables teachers to…well…teach.

Another advantage of charter schools is discipline.  Teachers in public schools often report that school discipline is non-existent.  If a teacher sends an unruly student out of the room, the principles will often send the student right back with no correct action being done, or often without it even being possible.  At charter schools, like private schools, the parents are shown to be much more involved.  At many, this is a requirement.  This means that when the school calls home to explain what little Johnny just did, someone answers. 

Now, charter schools alone aren’t the answer.  But they’re a great start that could be done at the local level.  It has many of the benefits of a private school, but provides that education for those who couldn’t necessarily afford it from a private school.  They also offer the advantage of pulling these kids out of the standard public schools and allow for smaller classes at those grade levels. 

Dougherty County schools made a move recently towards another environment that will ultimately help improve education, but only with some tweaking.  School choice is, ultimately, all about competition.  However, as schools have to have room, it artificially holds competition to a minimum. 

Gubernatorial candidate Eric Johnson has proposed legislation, and has been pushing for it prior to running for Governor actually, that would attach a funds to a student and follow them no matter where that student goes.  That, coupled with school choice, provides an incentive for schools to do well as more students will want to go there and their attached funds will provide more revenue for that school.  It’s the free market, and it can work in education. 

From an economic standpoint, charter schools would allow for lower property taxes, which would in turn help lure people back to Dougherty County, especially when coupled with the anticipated improvements in educational performance.  And, with fewed kids drawing local tax dollars (remember that charter schools often don’t receive any local funding), more can be brought to bear on the other kids who aren’t in the charter without raising taxes, and possibly while actually lowering them!

Now, I’ve said that education is the silver bullet.  It’s not.  It’s really more of a foundation that other moves can build upon.  Since the Georgia Constitution guarantees each student a public education, and that’s not likely to go anywhere in the near future, let’s make it the best we can.