The court issued an order extending the deadline for deciding the case ``until further order of the court,'' a rare move that buys the court's seven justices more time to decide the constitutional challenge filed by seven school districts who claim the Georgia Charter Schools Commission is illegal. Court spokeswoman Jane Hansen said there's no timetable on when the justices could decide the case.
The lawsuit was filed in 2009 after the commission began approving and funding charter schools that were denied by local school boards.
Seven school districts, most from the metro Atlanta area, said in the complaint that the commission is breaking laws by moving millions of dollars each year from public schools to charter schools. The charter schools' attorneys countered that the law allows the commission to take money from the districts because the funds came from state, not local, coffers.
A Fulton County judge in May found the commission was constitutional and affirmed it wasn't breaking any laws by moving money from public school districts to charter schools, setting up the showdown in the Georgia Supreme Court.
The challenge was filed by school district officials eager to rein in the commission's scope. The districts in the lawsuit are among the state's largest Gwinnett County, DeKalb County and Atlanta Public Schools along with four smaller districts: Bulloch, Henry, Candler and Griffin-Spalding schools. At least 37 other districts have signed on to support the challenge.
Charter schools receive public support but aren't subject to many regulations that apply to conventional public schools. The commission was created in 2008 by frustrated lawmakers who said they were upset that local school boards were turning down charter petitions because they didn't like the competition.
The commission has so far approved more than a dozen schools that will eventually serve about 15,000 students. Dozens of other charter schools have been approved by local school boards.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/3/237545