We Need To Be More Open To School Choice Here In Georgia, Especially In The Democratic Party

A better-educated Georgia, and a better-educated family, is a major void in current school reform efforts here in the state. The issues of competition and accountability are all too often ignored in efforts to improve public education. 

Now I'm a strong supporter of public schools, in fact I am a product of the public school system.  But I'm also in favor of school choice, which is a change from a few years ago. Quite simply, I believe in giving parents more choice about where to educate their children. My support of school choice is founded in the common sense premise that no parent should be forced to send a child to a poorly performing school.'

Unfortunately, however, countless parents, especially in the urban cities, are now forced to do just that. Parents in middle and upper-class communities have long practiced school choice. They made sure that their children attended schools where they would get the best possible education. There is no reason why this option should be closed to low-income parents. Education used to be the poor child’s ticket out of poverty. Now it’s part of the system that traps people in the underclass.

Why school choice? 

Two reasons: excellence and accountability. Parents want academic excellence for their children. They also want to know that there is someone in their child’s school who is ACCOUNTABLE for achieving those high academic standards.

In most cities/towns in this state, however, if your child is zoned into a school that is not performing well academically, and where teachers and administrators don’t see themselves as being responsible for academic performance, parents have no recourse. Parents can only send their child to that school and hope for the best. Under a school choice plan, a parent would have options. There would be consequences for a school’s poor performance. Parents could pull their children out of poorly performing schools and enroll them someplace else. If exercising this option leads to a mass exodus from certain underachieving schools, schools will learn this painful lesson: schools will either improve, or close due to declining enrollments.

 Nonetheless, believe that the Democratic Party should re-evaluate its position on school choice issues. 

Choice should not be included in partisan tones. School choice should be about giving our state’s children the best possible educational foundation. Some low-income Black parents here in Georgia have shown they care so much that they will even go so far as to look halfway around the world.....well not around the world, but a neighboring county/city in order to find a good school for their children.

And I've also hear people say that school choice is elitist, or even racist. The truth is that black low-income children are among the prime victims of the state’s failing public schools. Black parents know this all too well. This is why they have been so open to the idea of school choice.

With time, and through open dialogue, critics of school choice will come to see this movement for what it is: part of an emerging new battle for the millennium, the battle for education equity. We need to give poor children the same right that children from more upscale households have long enjoyed. The right to an education that will prepare them to make a meaningful contribution to society. It is that simple

Third Democrat To Enter Race for Georgia State School Superintendent

Rita Robinzane

Twenty-Four year veteran public school teacher Rita Robinzane (D-Lithonia) has decided to do more in her role as an educator and become a candidate for state school superintendent.

Robinzane says “I believe that I have the experience to fulfill the responsibilities required for this position.  I am an educator, not a politician.  As a teacher, I have firsthand experience with the state’s teacher evaluation system, testing and Race to the Top funding.  I know the day-to-day operations of what goes on in a classroom and the challenges that teachers have to overcome in order to meet requirements set by the state.   

Once elected, I plan to improve education for all children, support teachers with helping students succeed, and work to get the funding needed for better resources.   Once the graduation rate increases, more businesses will relocate to Georgia.  The quality of life in Georgia will improve once education for all students in the state gets better.”

Rita Robinzine is a member of the State Committee of the Democratic Party, the Junior League of Atlanta and the DeKalb Democratic Party. She joins State Rep Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell) and Doeford Shirley (D-Marietta) who also announced their intentions in seeking the State School Superintendent Post

How Rural Georgians View Their Republican-Led State Government

How can it be that in rural areas of Georgia, where many communities are dying and lots of individuals are struggling to make ends meet, there is a strong preference for limited government and thus considerable

Cochran, Ga 

support for right wing politicians and the Republican Party? In rural areas as in cities, many poor individuals vote for Democrats.

In my stop through Henderson, Ga yesterday at a local small business, Hank Murrow, a 60 yr old retired truck driver and self described conservative democrat during our short conversation explained: "Rural places often get extra government help and pay lower taxes per person, compared to suburban and rural areas". Well he's right, some folks suggest that rural Georgians just do not understand their own economic interests. Rural Georgians are distracted by cultural appeals. Guns, abortion, and religion are pegged as hot-button diversions that allow right wing politicians to gain office with appeals against government.

But let me present a different answer..... Many Georgians living in places outside of the cities and nearby suburbs think of themselves first and foremost as “rural people,” as members of communities  that get short shrift from government and politicians. For Georgians with what I call rural consciousness, government is not understood policy by policy. It is viewed more in its entirety, as an outside force that largely ignores rural places and is unlikely ever to understand the true needs of rural people or give them their fair share of public resources.

As I listened to ongoing conversations over the past two weekends in Lee, Bleckley, Houston Counties, I found that many rural residents perceive their communities as the victims of government decisions that routinely ignore or misunderstand rural needs and use rural resources to disproportionately help more privileged urbanites. Georgia has several large metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Columbus, Albany just to name a few. To people like Leo Nalls, a 72 yr old retiree from Leesburg and a republican put it, "In the areas of Georgia away from those metropolitan centers, many people around here perceive that Atlanta draws in all of the state’s resources and spends most of those resources on itself or not only on urban centers, but upscale suburban areas of the state like Johns Creek, Dunwoody, Canton, Cumming, for example".

Urban and suburban decision-makers, as non-metropolitan Georgians see them, have little understanding of rural lifestyles and values. Inadequate appreciation of the continuous hard work and  neighborliness that go on in most rural communities, where people have long struggled with difficult economic circumstances. Rural Georgians in these counties say republican lawmakers from the Metro Atlanta area and Northern Georgia hold all of the decisions.

The link between the Republican Party here in Georgia and rural areas is not simply about economic interests. Much of the explanation lies in the social perspectives rural folks use to interpret  politics. For many people in rural communities, as government policies championed by Democrats are the work of urbanites understood as culturally distinct from and dismissive of  rural people like themselves.

Another interesting exchange I had over the weekend was with a woman in Bleckley County who didn't want her name to be mentioned, but she teaches school in the Bleckley County School System who said she voted for Nathan Deal in 2010, but now is looking at Democratic Candidate Jason Carter. She said, None of the politicians ever come to see us until it's time for them to seek re-election. She then goes on to say "I'm happy that Gov. Deal is putting over $500 million dollars toward education, it's a good start, but money alone isn't going to solve the current crisis many schools south of Macon are facing and that alone won't be enough to satisfy teachers who have grown disgruntled by the continued cuts to education by the Republicans over the last decade". "And with the new changes to teachers healthcare plan, Deal, she says have dug himself into a hole". I then asked her if she thought it was because of the ACA, or "Obamacare" that those changes were taking place? She replied: "NO, that's just a easy way for Gov. Deal and the Republicans to deflect attention away from their mistake and put it on the ACA, which is unpopular at the moment".

State Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan Should Definitely Run For State School Superintendent in 2014

State Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan (D-Austell) can and should run for State School Superintendent. It's no secret that Georgia's Educational System is not up to par compared to other states. Morgan support for Charter Schools has her at odds with some of her own democratic colleagues as well as Georgia Federation of Teachers. It's nice to see a democrat go against the special interest of her party..Kudos Rep. Morgan

But Morgan only wants the best for Georgia's Students so why display so much opposition to a possible candidacy for State School Superintendent by Morgan? If you listen to some black leaders or politicos, Charter Schools..even Vouchers will cause grater inequality in education and increased segregation in our public schools.....HELLO we already have that already in some cases. Believe it or not but there are many families, especially black families who support parental choice, charter schools and magnet schools.

The education of our children should be a top priority of this state and the nation. Our schools need to provide a safe learning environment with the most modern technology and the best teachers whether it's public, charter, private or magnet schools. In this state sending your child to a charter, private school should be a choice, not a necessity, that's why parents should be able to have other choices if the current school his or her child is currently is not living up to its standards. Rep. Morgan authored Georgia's Law Empowering parents to access more options within the public school system and was a co-sponsor allowing the state to authorize charter schools. 

Intelligence isn't Geography Based when it comes to Education!

While most of us focus on ACT or SAT scores, student-teacher ratio and rigorous curriculum to increase student success, it may be the commitment to excellence that determines student achievement in rural schools. This is an overlooked, yet critical, factor when considering probably 40-45% of Georgia school districts are in rural areas.


Surprisingly, the top factors that did impact student achievement in urban high schools, ACT scores and dropout rates, did not determine student success in rural schools. Community involvement and the school's commitment to student excellence were the determining factors in whether a rural school was high- or low-achieving.

"In small-town Georgia, the school and the community are dependent upon each other for success. In rural areas, schools tend to be the center of the community, acting as a gathering place and often social services. In larger towns, students have access to resources and support outside of their schools.


High-achieving schools had educators that most likely embraced the role of being a rural teacher, which typically means wearing many hats and being creative with necessary resources.


Other factors included parents and community members who support the teachers, or if necessary, the school enacted programs to increase support. Another key factor was high-achieving schools gave students many opportunities to connect their learning to the well-being of the community, reinforcing the school-community bond.

While affected by the same variables, low-achieving schools felt that being a rural school was a handicap for student achievement and the lack of resources was a burden to school administration and the community. This attitude reflected in the educational approach of the school and in the student's probability to go to college.

I always wondered why rural school systems like Schley County School System achieve & perform at a high level, while Talbot County School System Perform at a low level. In Schley Co., the parents & the community ar heavily involved in their schools & to make sure that their children is getting the best education it can, as well as performing at a high level & having courses that's challenging their children to prepare them for the rigors of college. In Talbot, well the times I've been up there on school days, you see students walking the streets, some have dropped out, even some of the parents have taken their child to nearby Harris County or even Taylor County High so their child can get a better education. Same goes here in Macon County.

For rural schools, preparation programs need to provide specialized training for those who will serve in this setting. Policymakers up in Atlanta need to acknowledge that rural schools have particular strengths and weaknesses. Finally, reform programs aimed at improving rural schools need to be tailored to meet their unique needs. Schools can save communities. The success of one can determine the success or failure of the other.

We can't assume that student success in all schools, large and small, is impacted by the same issues, so the question becomes how do we help schools in their environment become successful? Whoever becomes our next governor & State School Superintendent will have to answer that question

Education & Development in Rural Georgia

Here in Georgia, Rural, low-income students are more at risk of becoming high school dropouts than their city and suburban counterparts. This fact alone should be a reason to address the challenges facing Rural Georgia Schools that serve low-income areas, but the negative findings do not stop with that one statistic. Students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches do not score as well on assessments as other students, and students attending rural schools do not perform as well as students who attend suburban schools. Rural schools, especially those serving low-income areas, need the nation’s attention, but currently they are not receiving the attention they deserve. Not all Rural Georgia Schools underperform, but the majority of them do.



A comprehensive approach to school reform that adds time to school days, weeks, and/or years for all students can result in significant learning gains.

Rural Georgia schools in low-income areas are usually resource poor because of weak tax bases and because of state education funding formulas that treat rural areas inequitably. Rural schools also face additional challenges related to the availability of high quality instructional staff, access to professional development opportunities, expertise in fund development, and parental engagement. The upshot: Increasing the number of hours in the school day and/or the number of weeks in the school year is not currently feasible in rural areas without significant new investments by state and/or federal governments, no matter how desirable.



Voluntary Programs like:

Strong, committed leadership and quality instructional staff

Adult-to-student ratios at levels that are low enough to make realistic the development of supportive staff/student relationships

Emphasis on making learning engaging and exciting by providing academic- based enrichment activities while assisting students in meeting achievement standards.

All of these learning opportunities provide a means of reaching students that regular during school time programs are not effectively serving and could be the basis for programs that lengthen the school day, week, or year for all students.

Who will secure the Endorsements of Ga Association of Educators, Professional Association of Georgia Educators & Other Teacher Organizations?

In the Democratic Primary?

Whoever can secure the endorsements of one, if not all of these organizations will be in the driver's seat to secure the democratic nomination.

Let's take a look at each organization.

Professional Association of Educators (PAGE):

The state's largest organization for professional educators, is a nonunion association of more than 72,000 teachers, administrators and support personnel members with the purpose of promoting better education for the children of Georgia.


Georgia Association of Educators (GAE):


The Georgia Association of Educators is a professional GRASSROOTS organization for public education professionals with more than 40,000 members across the state.

There are more out there, but the biggie is the GAE. whoever can corral the endorsement of this powerful organization will be in the driver's seat for the democratic nomination & possibly the general election.

If Roy Barnes manages to secure the endorsement, its game over.

If Gen Poythress secures their support, he will be in the runoff with Barnes

If DuBose Porter picks up their endorsement, it'll help his campaign tremendously, possibly inching his way past Poythress in the runoff

If Baker gets their endorsement, he'll have a shot at be in the runoff with Barnes.

But its too soon to say who'll be the top two vote getters in the democratic primary.


This election is critical for Public Education in Georgia. Gov. Sonny Perdue and the GOP-dominated General Assembly are starving schools and school salaries while “they assiduously pump up competing marketplace options such as charters, home and private schools.

Proposals by the GOP legislature like giving local school districts flexibility in spending and freedom from state mandates. Among the mandates: teacher salaries, curriculum decisions and class size instead of a fair funding formula or creating a state commission that can override locally elected boards of education, forcing local districts to accept charter schools and supporting those schools with their taxes are non-starters.



One bill that was pushed encourages corporations and individuals to donate money to pay for public school students to attend private schools by offering tax credits for such donations. That’s a back-door tactic for transfering public money to private schools.

Let's face it Republicans here in the state want to decimate the public school system here in Georgia & if they are successful in winning the governor's mansion & increasing their majority in the legislature, that's exactly what's ging to happen.

The one candidate to watch out for here is DuBose Porter. Will all of his hard work on behalf of education here in Georgia payoff with a endorsement from the powerful teacher group, or will they put their arms around Gen. Poythress & say you're our guy, or will apologies from Roy Barnes be enough for them to give him their ok?

We'll find out very soon!