The Georgia legislature has passed a bill that could ultimately close the doors at Mountain Education Charter High School (MECHS)at the end of the fiscal year June 30, 2023.
Senate Bill (SB) 153 would strip the school of state funding and remove its charter status, putting the financial responsibility for its survival on the shoulders of local school boards.
With many school systems already struggling with finances, MECHS’ closure is seen as almost certain.
MECHS has 18 campuses across North Georgia, including the original one here in Fannin County. Because of its success, it’s program has been replicated twice in Georgia.
Even though SB 153 is in place, Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston said last week, “I am fully committed to doing what it takes to keep the program going...we can’t walk away from these kids.”
Ralston was addressing concerns that arose after the bill became law and have been picking up momentum as its effects become widely realized.
Dr. Wayne Lovell, superintendent of the MECHS system, and Fannin County School Superintendent Dr. Michael Gwatney, discussed those concerns, the importance and history of MECHS last week.
MECHS, also widely known as Mountain Ed, was designed to “re-engage dropouts in the North Georgia communities,” Lovell said. It was the brain child of the school superintendents in Fannin, Union and Towns counties because of the high drop out rates in those counties.
Gwatney said Mountain Ed’s historical success continues today because of all life’s challenges that affect some students. “These are high school students that are unable to go to regular high school,” he said.
Gwatney said students might be at MECHS because they started a family early, they’ve had sickness, they have to take care of their siblings or their parents, or they are having to work to support the family.
Lovell emphasized MECHS’ students are “students that are not fitting the traditional model for their high school education.”
Supporters of SB 153 said it came about because legislators looked at across the board school funding for schools, creating their concerns for over-funding and under-funding.
In MECHS case, legislators saw a healthy fund balance.
Georgia Senator Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia), a sponsor of SB 153, was quoted in The Northeast Georgian newspaper as saying, “We’re trying to make sure we were funding fairly. We fund high school at a different level than we do elementary. We fund special ed at a different level than we do gifted.”
Tillery said the purpose was to make sure charter schools weren’t receiving a greater portion of state funding per student.
Lovell said the original bill that came out of the Senate was something MECHS “could live with.”
The fund balance would bridge the gap between current operations and operating with less state money.
But the revised version coming out of the state House is “putting us in a box we’ve already come out of,” Lovell said.
“We’re not going to have folks that pick us up locally,” Lovell said.
MECHS’ 18 campuses currently operate with 38 full time employees.
Since it was formed 29 years ago, 5,227 students have graduated with diplomas including 479 last year. Across its campuses, MECHS boasts an 80 percent graduation rate.
At the Fannin campus, 13 students graduated last year, all of whom earned scholarships to continue their education in college or trade school.
Without MECHS, Lovell and Gwatney agreed, “the communities just aren’t going to be the same.”
Ralston predicts a challenge to amend SB 153, but is “reasonably certain” the problem can be fixed.
“The funding we can figure out,” Ralston said. “We’ve got to get people on board with the notion this is a life changing experience for many kids that we don’t want to deprive them of.”
The House Speaker and District 7 representative, Ralston want s to amend the bill “in a way that can be good...even for those who might not be supporters yet.”