The Newton County Board of Education recently approved its list of legislative priorities that will be presented to our local legislators.

If you missed the list, which ran in Sunday’s paper, you can see it here. There were 11 positions. We agreed with all except two.

Regarding charter schools, the school board opposes the existence and actions of the Commission on Charter Schools. The board contends that they should be in charge of the function of any charter school that was to start in the county.

We disagree. If there are enough parents that are willing to start a charter school, they should abide by standard rules and regulations that are preset by a commission like the CCS.

The reason such schools generally are started is because parents don’t like the policies and the curriculum provided by the public schools in their jurisdiction. Having a school board run a charter program would be like putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop.

The school board is also opposed to the use of vouchers, tuition credits or scholarships whose purpose is to allocate public funds to private schools or home study.

We disagree here, too.

We contend that all parents have the right to have their children educated in the best manner that is possible. If they feel the public schools are not serving that purpose, they should be able to use their tax money to educate their child in the school of their choice.

One position we totally agree with is for nonpartisan election of local school board members.

Outside politics do not belong in the running of our schools.