Just Say, "NO."
- "Home Rule Charter Schools (Texas Education Code §§12.014‐12.023): An entire school district may elect to convert to charter status by establishing a home‐rule charter. This conversion requires multiple steps including: the board of trustees establishing a commission to frame the charter, obtaining preclearance of the charter by the U.S. Department of Justice (if it would change the governance of the district), obtaining approval of the charter by the commissioner of education, adoption of the charter by a majority of the qualified voters in an election in which at least 25 percent of the district’s registered voters participate, and certification of the adopted charter to the secretary of state. At this time, no Texas school district has sought home‐rule conversion."
- Texas Association of School Boards (TASB)
- Click Here http://www.tasb.org/legislative/resources/documents/charters.pdf
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Adopting a home rule school district will convert a Texas Education Code Chapter 11 Independent School District to a Texas Education Code Chapter 12 Home Rule School District Charter status.
Dallas ISD will no longer be an Independent District.
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Louisiana's Recovery School District, a special state-run district that focuses on remedying the damage Hurricane Katrina wrought on the schools in its path. (a Charter School District)
"One of those who saw opportunity in the floodwaters of New Orleans was the late Milton Friedman, grand guru of unfettered capitalism and credited with writing the rulebook for the contemporary, hyper-mobile global economy. Ninety-three years old and in failing health, "Uncle Miltie", as he was known to his followers, found the strength to write an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal three months after the levees broke. "Most New Orleans schools are in ruins," Friedman observed, "as are the homes of the children who have attended them. The children are now scattered all over the country. This is a tragedy. It is also an opportunity." (Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, December 5, 2005)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friedman's radical idea was that instead of spending a portion of the billions of dollars in reconstruction money on rebuilding and improving New Orleans' existing public school system, the government should provide families with vouchers, which they could spend at private institutions.
In sharp contrast to the glacial pace with which the levees were repaired and the electricity grid brought back online, the auctioning-off of New Orleans' school system took place with military speed and precision. Within 19 months, with most of the city's poor residents still in exile, New Orleans' public school system had been almost completely replaced by privately run charter schools." (The Shock Doctrine - Naoimi Klein - Click Here)
Arnie Duncan the U.S. Secretary of Education openly advocates mayoral control of urban school districts.
"Speaking at a forum with mayors and superintendents, Duncan promised to help more mayors take over.
"At the end of my tenue, if only seven mayors are in control, I think I will have failed, Duncan said.
He offered to do whatever he can to make the case. "I'll come to your cities," Duncan said. "I'll meet with your editorial boards. I'll talk with your business communities. I will be there."(Arne Duncan: Mayors Should Run Schools - NBC Chicago - 3-31-09) - Click Here
Texas Education Code - Chapter 12 - Charters
Section 12.002: Classes Of Charter
The classes of charter under this chapter are:
(1) a home-rule school district charter as provided by Subchapter B;
(2) a campus or campus program charter as provided by Subchapter C; or
(3) an open-enrollment charter as provided by Subchapter D.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995.
