Today the Georgia Supreme Court decided it will not review the charter school ruling it made last month, calling the Georgia Charter Schools Commission and any charter school approved by that Commission unconstitutional.   Sixteen charter schools and over 16,000 students are affected by this decision. 

Some of the charter schools are hurrying back to the local districts to try and get approved for new local or state special school charters in time to keep school open in the next year.  The Board of Education approved the state's largest public online school, Georgia Cyber Academy and also Odyssey School, both as special schools, just last week.

The Associated Press reported earlier this morning that:

"The three dissenting judges were Justices David Nahmias, George Carley and Harold Melton. In a substitute dissent issued Monday, Nahmias wrote that the majority's ruling was "truly stunning." He said if local boards of education truly have exclusive control over K-12 public education, then state laws and regulations establishing education policy "are of dubious constitutionality."

"Some local school systems, and champions of local control over public education, might like the freedom that comes with this part of the equation, but it haphazardly undermines the scheme of public education that has existed in Georgia for generations," he wrote.

According to Mike Klein from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation:

"Governor Nathan Deal's office, along with House and Senate education committee members, have begun discussions about placing a constitutional amendment on the November 2012 ballot that would seek permission for the state to authorize and fund charter schools.  The General Assembly would most likely address this question in the 2012 session that starts next January."