Charter school oversight draws attention of lawmakers, Bibb school leaders
ATLANTA -- The oversight of charter schools drew considerable interest during a meeting in Atlanta Tuesday involving a Bibb County school delegation and Macon-Bibb County lawmakers.
In Bibb County, where two more charter schools want to open their doors, "There still needs to be some education with respect to charter policy," Keith Simmons, the chief of staff to Superintendent Curtis Jones, said after meeting with the lawmakers.
Simmons and board members Tom Hudson and Daryl Morton took up lawmakers' invitation to come talk about topics of their choice.
Conversation quickly turned to charter schools.
Charters are relatively new to Bibb, and there are only two so far: Macon Charter Academy and the Academy for Classical Education. Charter schools get public money, but they are exempt from some state school rules in return for meeting achievement goals in their charter, or contract.
The school board is still learning the intricacies of things such as how funding works for charters and the different powers they have over charter schools versus traditional neighborhood schools, Simmons said.
"There are some things that we as a local educational agency can do to support that but ultimately, ... our job as a local educational agency is to ensure that those local charters that we authorize are functioning, and that we're able to help and support in any way we can."
The bottom line, he said, is the success of Macon-Bibb students.
One of the schools has given the board a fairly quick education. Macon Charter Academy ended up on state probation for lack of training of its early governing board members, inadequate materials and lack of staff to handle finances. Its financial records were incomplete under its former governing body, which has since been replaced.
Morton said school board members were asked to make significant decisions about MCA without knowing details of its finances.
Simmons said two more charter petitions are in the pipeline: Dream Academy and Bloomfield Prep Academy.
"I think it would be safe or fair to say that the board has a better understanding of their role," Simmons said. "I think the board has a better perspective of what they want to hear and see from petitioners. You don't know what you don't know, and we want to ensure that our board is well-educated in that regard."
But Bibb's senior representative said she thinks the board ought to "tread lightly" when it comes to new charter schools.
"The public schools in our state have always been underfunded, and you go out with this grandiose idea of pulling away and doing a charter in lieu of neighborhood schools, and that's certainly not going to draw more funding," said state Rep. Nikki Randall, D-Macon.
She said financial sustainability has always been one of her major questions about charters, and she's worried about the ongoing financial viability of both of Bibb's charters.
State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, said MCA had some deficiency at some level of leadership, but that its problems should not taint other charter petitions.
"I don't think you can say that because of the potential failure of one that you need to slow down," he said.
Also at the meeting, state Rep. Robert Dickey, R-Musella, said he would abandon the idea of cutting the number of Bibb school board members.
He had proposed a cut at the suggestion of the previous superintendent because the board has eight members and thus could end up in tie votes.
But Dickey said he talked to board members, and four of them reported that they do not think a cut is necessary, so he will not push for it.
To contact writer Maggie Lee, email mlee@macon.com
This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Charter school oversight draws attention of lawmakers, Bibb school leaders ."