Ga. House to vote again on charter schools

The state House is set to vote again today on a constitutional amendment that could allow the state to approve charter schools in Georgia.

If approved by both the House and Senate, voters could decide in the November general election.

The resolution failed by just ten votes two weeks ago with the majority of Democrats and a few Republicans voting against it.

Sponsors of the measure have come back with an amendment that takes language from a Democratic proposal spelling out what a state charter school is and that no money would be taken from local school systems to fund them.

Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta) plans to vote for the amended version after voting “no” the first time.

“I actually have become more comfortable with (HB) 1162 as two of the three things I was very concerned about have been addressed in the new legislation,” she tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.

But Rep. Tommy Benton (R-Jefferson), who also voted against the resolution last time, is still on the fence.

“I just don’t know how we’re going to pay for it all,” he says.

Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, who is sponsoring the constitutional amendment, unveiled part of an enabling bill that spells out how those charter schools would be funded.

She says a formula would be used that would provide the same amount of money for any state charter school student no matter where that student lives.  She emphasized that no local dollars would be included.

Both measures were brought about after the State Supreme Court ruled last May that it was unconstitutional for the state to approve charter schools and require local systems to help fund them.