More than a thousand comments have been made to the AJC Get Schooled blog on the charter school amendment over the last few weeks. As these comments indicate, Georgians are split on the amendment and whether it will help or undermine public education in the state. Here is a sampling of the comments.
Ray: If this charter amendment is such a great idea, so great for education in Georgia, why have its proponents resorted to hoodwinking people into voting for it? Why not just state what it is fairly and let the people decide? Obviously the drafters felt that people would prefer local control on this sort of an issue, and so they just stuck "local control" in there to fool people. What a travesty.
ProfD: If a local school board is dysfunctional, as manifested, for example, by massive cheating or by firing an entire administration in a school against the wishes of the local community, then this amendment provides a different avenue for the local community to take action on public education in the community. It really gives people more choice.
Self Made: You vote your local school board out if you don't like how you're being represented or how your school system is run. You don't strip power away from your local government and give it to the state's appointed bureaucrats! What is it with government-hater types who want to take power away from an institution we ultimately control and hand it over to unelected and/or private entities who have little or no accountability to the citizens, voters, taxpayers?
FairLady: Parents need options today. We cannot wait for more money to be thrown to failing schools in hopes that they will improve. Unless your child is in a failing school, you don't get it. We cannot wait until our school systems get their act together. Parents get to decide on election day if they want more choices if they are forced into failing schools based upon their zip code. Let's give choice a chance by voting "yes."
Mrs. Maine: Parents have plenty of choices right now. As it is, schools and administrators are often held hostage to the irrational demands of parents who think the schools and the system should accommodate their little darling and no one else. The last thing parents should have a say in is who the principal of the school is. The current school system is adequate if not equal. Could it be improved? Oh, yes. Absolutely yes. Do we need to amend the constitution to do so? No.
DunMoody: When you're in a school and school system that's working, this charter school amendment looks unnecessary. But for those of us in systems that do not work, the amendment is very much needed. What is everyone so afraid of? If a charter school doesn't hit the mark in terms of student achievement, it closes. Done.
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