Friday, November 9, 2007

Clarke County Charter School Dead?

I’m kind of ambivalent about this; not about the proposed charter school, which I strongly support, but about the manner in which the situation is unfolding. Since the DTAE denied the Clarke County School District’s grant application, the future of the proposed Athens Community Career Academy is in serious doubt.

The question that immediately sprang to my mind is “Why write a proposal for a charter school that is dependent on securing a specific grant?” On the other hand, I was not privy to the reasoning behind writing the proposal that way, so there may be a legitimate reason for it.

Is there a reason that a charter school should be dependent on DTAE funds? Given the profligate spending we have come to expect from the CCSD, not to mention its continuing series of budget amendments or the almost $12 million socked away earlier this year as contingency and reserve funds, why can’t the charter school be paid for out of the money we already have?

Also, I think that this particular OneAthens proposal is the one that showed the most promise for affecting real change on our community.

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