Decisive Ruling Deems Ga. Charter Schools Commission Constitutional

Great news out of Georgia. A judge today ruled decisively in a ruling from the bench that charter schools created by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission are constitutional.

Judge Shoob’s ruling came after listening to arguments from seven school districts (Atlanta City and Bulloch, Candler, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb and Gwinnett) that were suing the Commission, the State Department of Education and the State Board of Education, and two schools approved by the Commission – Ivy Preparatory Charter Academy in Norcross and the Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts and Technology in Statesboro. The districts’ claim that the law which created the Commission – HB881, enacted in 2008 – was unconstitutional was rejected.
In her ruling, Judge Shoob said: “The General Assembly has provided sufficient guidelines. Commission charter schools are not required to be under the control or managed by an elected board of education. The funding is constitutional.”

Simple as that.