There are a lot of misconceptions among voters regarding the charter school amendment that will be on the November 6^th ballot in Georgia.  The wording of the amendment as it appears on the ballot is misleading at best.  The leadership of the House and Senate along with the Governor worded the ballot question in a way that makes a voter who would vote in favor of this amendment believe that they are voting on the question “should there be charter schools in Georgia.”

 Of course there are already charter schools in Georgia, more than 100 of them.  The charter schools that exist are governed by the local school boards.  Should this amendment pass, the state would be able to set up a whole system of schools without local control. Our state is not currently adequately funding the schools that we have, yet the leadership wants to set up a new system of schools that would serve without local oversight. 

The promise has been made by the politicians that no local tax money will go to these new independent charter schools.  There are problems with that argument.  First, all tax money is local.  Tax dollars don’t magically appear in Atlanta.  They come from “local” taxpayers and businesses all across this state.  Second, our local public schools are already being starved for needed money from the state.  When a school system does not receive the amount of state funding needed to operate, we all know what happens: property taxes go up.  That’s about as local as it can get.

If there are any doubts about what is happening with this amendment simply follow the money.  The independent charter school industry is funding the campaign for this measure.  The majority of the pro-charter school amendment money comes from outside the state.  Someone is banking on a good payout if this measure passes.

Please, research the issue for yourself.  Determine if you want your education tax dollars being spent by Atlanta politicians, absent of local control and input.  Ask yourself, are our two local school systems in Chattooga County receiving the support they need from Atlanta?  Then vote NO on Amendment 1 on the November 6 ballot.