Cherokee School Board Reaffirms Stand Against Vouchers

CANTON, GA — The Cherokee County School Board reaffirmed its opposition to vouchers on Dec. 12 by joining Georgia’s largest coalition of school systems in its stand against giving taxpayer dollars to private schools with no regard for transparency or accountability.

The school board unanimously adopted the 2020 Legislative Priorities set by the Georgia Education Coalition, an organization made up of the State’s largest school systems and for which Superintendent of Schools Brian Hightower serves as vice chair.

The Georgia Education Coalition priorities, which mirror many of the School Board’s own annual Legislative Partnership Priorities approved last month, outline where Georgia’s top public school leaders stand on major issues expected to come up for a vote when the State Legislature convenes in January.

Noted by Cherokee Schools Chief of Staff Mike McGowan on the issue of the proposed “education savings accounts” vouchers for private schools and parents who home school, the Georgia Education Coalition “Opposes diverting public funds to private entities through vouchers and tuition tax credits.” This new vouchers proposal, which would cost Cherokee Schools alone more than $54 million over 10 years (close to $2 billion statewide), was sponsored in the last session by one of Cherokee County’s state legislators despite the school board’s unanimous opposition.

School Board Chair Kyla Cromer said she hopes to see Cherokee County’s legislative delegation listen to the Bboard’s unanimous opposition to vouchers and oppose any further diversion of public tax dollars to private schools, citing vouchers’ lack of transparency and accountability.

“We don’t know where this money is going, and there’s no oversight,” she said, noting that public schools must comply with ever-increasing accountability measures for academic achievement, equity and access, financial management and more in order to use public tax dollars, whereas private schools face no such requirements. “There’s no accountability for private schools, and I have a real problem with that. We need to push our local delegation … they need to hear from all of us about that.”

The diversion of tax dollars to private schools is especially troubling, school leaders argue, given the significant shortfalls in state funding for such important public education needs as safety and security; school counselors, nurses, social workers and psychologists; and bus transportation.

The new “education savings account” vouchers proposal is in addition to the state’s existing Georgia Special Needs Scholarship vouchers for private schools, which costs $29 million in state revenue annually, and the Georgia Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which diverts $100 million in State tax credits to vouchers for private schools. School board members on Thursday received copies of a new report, “Pushing Public Dollars to Private Schools: Vouchers in Georgia,” which outlines the cost of these programs and their lack of accountability and transparency.

The school board took the next step Thursday toward building an agri-science lab for Creekview High School by approving the construction proposal by CBI General Contractors for $1.9 million. The project, which will house the school’s growing agriculture Career Pathways program, will be funded largely with Education SPLOST dollars, supplemented by a $150,000 State grant facilitated by State Rep. Mandi Ballinger, and state entitlement funds.

As part of its approval of the monthly human resources report, the school board appointed a new supervisor for facility maintenance: Rocky Simpson, who began serving as maintenance coordinator in the department in 2018. A graduate of Cherokee High School and Kennesaw State University, Simpson joined Cherokee Schools in 2002 as a maintenance technician and advanced to facility zone foreman in 2016.

The school board also:

• Recognized Creekview High School sophomore Callahan Pace for being selected to serve on the Georgia School Board Association Youth Advisory Council
• Recognized 2019-20 Reinhardt University/Cherokee Schools Mathematics Tournament winners
• Recognized Clark Creek Elementary School STEM Academy for being named a Georgia Title I Distinguished School
• Recognized Cherokee Schools’ Georgia High School Association State and Regional Champions
• Approved the monthly financial reports
• Approved plans to prepare and market the sale of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for Education (Ed SPLOST) bonds to fund voter-approved projects
• Approved out-of-state travel and out-of-state and overnight field trips
• Approved the monthly capital outlay projects report
• Approved special lease agreements

The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2020.