Edited~Why the #AlaGOP is pushing for #CharterSchools

And it has nothing to do with improving educational achievement, it's all about the Benjamin's.  Strike that.  It's all about the AlaGop getting their greedy fingers on the public Benjamin's.

The charter school concept may soon come to Alabama. Gov. Robert Bentley intends to push for charter schools in the 2012 legislative session. Jennifer Ardis, Bentley's press secretary, said the governor wants to try charter schools on a small scale in Alabama.
The Legislature has shot down charter school ideas in the past, but with a new Republican majority, the idea may pass this time. The success of any charter schools Alabama gets may be dependent on how well the Legislature crafts a law allowing charter schools to operate here. Recent studies have shown that how states set up the enabling legislation for their charter schools can have a big impact on their success.
"My concern is that when the Legislature and the governor put in bills that they are very careful because I am completely opposed to charter schools run by non-citizens or private chains," said Betty Peters, a state school board member. "I believe that charter schools are supposed to be public schools, and if schools are going to be run with public money, we should be very careful."

You're darn Skippy we should be very careful, or Alabama will end up like Florida where the Charter School Industry is running amok with taxpayer money.

These days, it is the burgeoning charter school industry that is reeling in taxpayer dollars. As two Miami Herald reporters discovered, the charter school industry in Florida, which has been given the political stamp of approval of a thoroughly conservative state legislature and a series of conservative governors, allows charters to "play by their own rules."
According to an investigative report by The Miami Herald's Scott Hiaasen and Kathleen McGrory, the managers of charter schools in Florida, a project championed by former Governor Jeb Bush, are running amok.
As billions in taxpayer dollars have been shifted from traditional school districts to independently run charter schools, the charter school industry has become "one of the region's fastest-growing industries, backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians."

It's not about the children, it's about the bottom line.

While there are arguments to be had over the efficacy of charter schools, there is no disputing the facts presented by The Miami Herald's reporters that, in part due to a lack of oversight and accountability, Florida's charter schools have become a veritable gold mine for a number of corporations.

Now we know why the AlaGOP is pushing for Charter Schools.

But charter schools have also resulted in a "freewheeling system" with minimal oversight that "has given rise to a cottage industry of professional charter school management companies that-along with the landlords and developers who own and build schools-control the lion's share of charter schools' money."
These management companies are reeling in taxpayer dollars in several ways: they receive "roughly $6,000 per student from the state" and they "also get some state funds for facilities and maintenance." In fact, "Most schools rent their facilities-in churches, shopping centers, or brand-new school buildings erected by real-estate developers," and these properties are "exempt from property taxes."
According to Hiasson and McGrory, "Many of the highest rents are charged by landlords with ties to the management companies running the schools, [and] .... At least 56 charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties sit on land whose owners are tied to management companies, property records show."

Remember this mantra, Charter Schools are back door privatization of education.

Charter Schools are NOT a good thing in Alabama or any where else.

Just last Thursday Ron Sparks told the Madison County Democratic Women, "I am against charter schools in Alabama.  ... I will not start dividing our children and segregating our children in Alabama."  Today a release from the Artur Davis campaign accused Sparks of flip-flopping on the issue, appearing with Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton to highlight the Obama administration's education reform efforts and seeking to "help rally support for lifting restrictions on the growth of high-quality charter schools." 

Isn't it ironic....)

republicans/conservatives/right wingers don't have a problem taking them there federal tax dollars it comes to funding private, I mean charter schools, but they claim to not want government bailouts, I mean handouts. 
Go figure.