This entire debate is being hijacked in order to obscure the real intent of the amendment and the Legislature- which is to dismantle public education as we know it in the name of "reform." The choice before us in November is NOT about whether or not to have charter schools. We have them; we will continue to have them;they can serve a purpose, when used appropriately. It IS about who controls the process and, thus, the money. This must be repeated over and over again, because the language of the amendment itself is misleading, not to mention the red herrings being thrown out by Jones, Rogers, Deal, Lindsey, et al.

Notice that the loudest voices calling for "reform" are NOT the classroom teachers, who would know best what reforms will and won't work. It's politicians who don't even have children in the public schools. Classroom teachers are begging for reforms, but not what the Legislature is forcing on them. Because the reforms that will work for ALL schools throughout the state don't line the pockets of the legislators--reforms like giving teachers the power to truly enforce discipline in their classrooms, releasing them from unfunded mandates and too many high stakes tests that do nothing to improve learning, smaller class sizes. Oh wait, those are all things that charter schools trumpet as their selling points. Well, if it's good enough for charters, then it ought to be good enough for ALL SCHOOLS. Why,then, aren't we doing it in all schools. Hmm???

Thanks for weighing in Holly. Did you happen to see Chip's piece in the AJC Sunday? He has the nerve trot out the meaningless SAT scores once again. He then proceeds to declare that if all children attended public charter schools the savings would be 2 billion annually. The man has no shame for lying to every taxpayer and voter in the state. I wonder, who should we trust, Chip Rogers aka Will the Winner, who does not send his children to public school or Dr. Barge who is an educational professional? Georgia's children deserve better than every single ALEC initiated bill Chip Rogers has attempted to push through the legislature. Hope at least the AJC will subject his pathetic attempt at "public policy" propaganda to their truth-o-meter.

Federal legislation is always going to trump true reform in local school districts - because the feds have an unlimited amount of money behind their checks. So students with Special Education needs will continue to receive unlimited funds. Gen ed. students will continue to get the short end of the stick because they are now the newest "underserved" population. Local school districts are unlikely to approve any new charter schools - because they are already struggling to maintain the machines on the roster with less and less money to spend. Therefore, if the machine in your neighborhood school district is broken, and you own property, and you work - then you are out of luck for getting your child a quality education unless you can afford private school. I for one, do not accept that for my child - who is the heartbeat of my life. Luckily, I was able to fix my own family's problem, but for many - they are S - T - U - C - K. I will vote for any initiative that promotes CHOICES that would pressure poor administration and some burnt out teachers to start improving their quality of service. Again, local school admins and boards' hands are tied when it comes to weeding out burnt out teachers. Unions protect teachers once they are tenured, and if you are a tenured teacher, you are going to have to do something like strike a child in order to get fired. So, weeding the bad apples that poison our systems isn't an option.....Charter Schools........Choices.....Choices....

This entire debate is being hijacked so that local school boards can deny charter schools in the near future and steer funding back to the traditional public schools (TPS) This entire debate is being hijacked because TPS admins and educators hate competition as much as they love tenure. The same excuses are always made for mediocrity yet the same people running our educational system never change a thing. Why is that?

As usual with the traditional public schooling side of the debate, the focus is on money, rather than the education of our children. An education that many, MANY TPS aren't providing to even our HS graduates...25% of whom must take remedial classes during their freshman years of college.

I'll vote for anything that provides more alternatives for parents. Active parents of ignored students should not be forced back into the same failing TPS that they bailed from in the first place. This is esp. damaging to poor & minority students. A vote against 1162 is a vote for More Minority Oppression. A vote against 1162 is an endorsement of a failed Educational System that has dropped America to the 30s in the world's rankings. A vote against 1162 is a vote against parental choice and a vote for local crony-filled boards dictacting the lack of choice your child shall have.

After the left dismantles the competition that charters provide, what's next - teacher unions?

I can't explain the collective bargaining committee, since teachers in GA are NOT unionized, and therefore not able to use collective bargaining. And I've been on the GAE website and cannot find any mention of this committee, so if you have a link to that information, please share it. So, let's put a moratorium on the terms "teacher unions " (as it pertains to GA, where no such animal exists) and also on "anti-choice." I have not heard one person on either side of this issue say that no one deserves a choice. What I have heard is the constant demonization of TPS's and those who works their backsides off in them. Are there bad schools? Yep. Always will be, charters or no. A lot of that blame lies not in the county office or even the school administration's office, but at the feet of parents who don't care and kids who refuse to learn or allow others to learn by disrupting the class.
Is there room to improve our schools? Absolutely! But no one has demonstrated to me that spreading already thin resources even thinner by adding charter schools does anything to help the other kids. The kids in the charter MAY be in a better situation, but why are we not looking for REAL solutions to lift ALL schools up for ALL students? Do some people actually believe that teachers and administrators don't care about the kids they work with and don't want them to succeed? That is insulting to those of us who have been in the classroom and who still are.

I will explain how collective bargaining works in Georgia:

GAE: Hi, can we have pay increases, smaller class sizes, fewer furlough days, and lower insurance rates?

GA Dept of ED: No.

GAE: OK, thanks anyway.

(works the same way at county level. There is a reason Cherokee has more furlough days than Cobb)