Voters to decide new charter school issue

As of Tuesday, October 16, 2012
© Copyright 2013 Gwinnett Daily Post

ATLANTA — After most Georgia voters decided against a transportation tax, political attention is shifting to a new battle involving charter schools.

At issue is whether the Georgia constitution should be amended to guarantee the state's power to authorize and fund charter schools.

Georgia voters will decide the issue when they go to the polls in November.

Backers of the constitutional amendment fear that without a stamp of approval from voters this fall, the state's power to authorize and fund charter schools could come under legal threat.

"All opponents will have to do is go back to the court and say, 'The state is in contempt of court,' 'They're not following your directions,' 'They're still violating the constitution,'" said Tony Roberts, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Charter Schools Association.

"They haven't filed suit yet, but if past history is any indication, they will."

Opponents maintain that charter schools take money from public schools, and many Democrats oppose the new amendment. The Democratic Party of Georgia has sought to highlight what it describes as the misleading nature of the ballot question.

"We have found that once people realize these charter schools take money from the public school systems, their opinions change," said Eric Gray, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

More like this story

Local leaders divided on charter legislation ( March 20, 2012 )
Ga. voters to decide on charter schools in Nov. ( March 19, 2012 )
Charter school amendment divides GA tea partyers ( November 3, 2012 )
Georgia schools chief to oppose charter amendment ( August 14, 2012 )
MURPHY: Why you should vote 'no' on charter school amendment ( September 29, 2012 )

Gundoctor1 10 months, 1 week ago

The democrats are upset. No "bull"!!!!!! So what???

Jan 10 months, 1 week ago

Everyone should be upset. This is only about whether the state can force a local board of education to fund private, for profit, charter schools even if that requires higher taxes, which it will as more charter schools choose to locate in districts with higher funding. Charter schools, on average, do not perform as well as public schools in the same area. The teaching staff are not required to meet the same standards as in public schools. They are for profit, not for education.

LarryMajor 10 months, 1 week ago

What Tony Roberts said is simply not true. The Charter Schools Commission took state QBE funding directly from kids enrolled in Gwinnett schools and gave it to Ivy Prep. It was the Commission’s parasitic funding that caused the lawsuit. In fact, had the Commission simply agreed to stop taking state funding away from Gwinnett students, the lawsuit would have ended and the original Commission would still be operating. The State Supreme Court struck down the entire code section that created the Charter Schools Commission and its ability to hijack state education funding. No part of this legal action can have any effect on the state’s authority to create special schools – charter or conventional – because this authority is already clearly in our Constitution. Tony Roberts’ suggestion that the constitution can somehow be declared unconstitutional is pure nonsense.

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