Charter Schools get boost from new laws

Governor Sonny Perdue signed three pieces of legislation into law to expand support for choice options within public schools: HB 881, 831, and 1277.

Jan Jones and known as the charter commission legislation, requires charter school petitioners to continue to seek approval from their local board of education. It also lets parents request charter approval directly from a newly-formed state charter commission if the local board of education rejects the petition, or if the petitioner seeks conditions different from those approved by the local board of education. In addition, HB 881 changes the way charter schools are funded. Many previously-approved charter schools operate on fewer dollars than traditional public schools receive.

House Bills 831 and 1277 build further on the infrastructure support for public charter schools. HB 831 enables the State Board of Education to establish a grant program to provide matching funds to charter school organizations for capital improvements or construction of charter schools, while HB 1277 provides charter school personnel access to the State Health Benefit Plan.

Another piece of charter legislation, HB 1065, was signed into law by Governor Perdue earlier this month and authorizes local charter schools and state chartered special schools to use their SPLOST funds for capital outlay projects.

Solving the state's metro traffic woes

At the first of three town hall meetings Wednesday night, commuters met with law makers and elected officials.

Their message … do something … anything … to make it easier to get around the state’s metro areas.

Experts say around the state, traffic is backing up and tempers are flaring.

At Wednesday’s town hall meeting, one doctor spoke of treating patients, stressed from their daily commute.

But doing something about all that traffic isn't quite so easy, says former state representative Matt Towery.

Towery's group ... Insider Advantage ... polled voters and lawmakers.

Turns out, traffic isn't all that sexy to either group.

“When politicians see the polls as to what the most important issues are, traffic doesn't normally come up as the number one issue. That has a real effect on the degree of time and effort they want to put into dealing with that issue.”

One other idea that's gotten a lot of buzz is a statewide SPLOST to fund transit and traffic improvements.

Towery says the idea is a good one, but says counties without the congestion of Georgia’s metro areas aren’t likely to chip in for something they can't use.

The next town hall meeting will be held Wednesday, March 28 at Clayton State University.