Georgia Amendment 1, Provide for State Charter Schools Measure (2012)

Georgia Amendment 1
Election date November 6, 2012
Topic Public education governance and School choice policy
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Georgia Amendment 1 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Georgia on November 6, 2012. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported authorizing the legislature to provide for state charter schools, defined as public schools operating under a charter agreement with the State Board of Education.

A "no" vote opposed authorizing the legislature to provide for state charter schools, defined as public schools operating under a charter agreement with the State Board of Education.

Election results

Georgia Amendment 1
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		2,178,183	58.58%
No		1,540,198	41.42%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 1 was as follows:

“

Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Support

Arguments

• State Sen. Buddy Carter (R): "Finally, and perhaps most importantly, opponents claim that the commission will take away from local control. Again, nothing could be further from the truth. All charter applications must first go to the local school boards for consideration. Only those that feel they have been unjustly denied will appeal to the commission. In fact, voting in favor of this amendment will give the ultimate local control - it will give parents more options and allow them to be more involved in the decision making process in public education."

Opposition

Arguments

• Superintendent of Schools John Barge (R): "I cannot support the creation of a new and costly state bureaucracy that takes away local control of schools and unnecessarily duplicates the good work already being done by local districts, the Georgia Department of Education, and the state Board of Education. What's more, this constitutional amendment would direct taxpayer dollars into the pockets of out-of-state, for-profit charter school companies whose schools perform no better than traditional public schools and locally approved charter schools (and worse, in some cases)."

Background

Gwinnett County School District v. Cox (2011)

In 2008, House Bill 881 (HB 881) created the Georgia Charter Schools Commission (GCSC). HB 881 allowed charter school applicants to request approval from the GCSC.

In 2010, seven public school districts filed litigation with the Fulton County Superior Court, arguing that the state could not allocate local funds from school districts to charter schools, at least not without approval from the school board. Thomas Cox, a lawyer representing the school districts, said, "The Constitution specifies that public education is under the management and control of county boards of education. To allow the state to say we are going to set up a charter school is basically undermining that local control." Bruce Brown, representing the charter schools, responded, "Nothing in the Georgia Constitution gives the local district a monopoly on public education. The constitution expressly allows the state to fund charter schools with state money. Nothing is taken from local taxes."

The Fulton County Superior Court upheld HB 881 as constitutional. Plaintiffs appealed the case to the Georgia Supreme Court.

On May 16, 2011, the state Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, held that HB 881 was unconstitutional. The opinion stated, "... our constitution embodies the fundamental principle of exclusive local control of general primary and secondary ('K–12') public education... [HB 881] violates Art. VIII, Sec. V, Par. VII(a) by authorizing a State commission to establish competing State-created general K–12 schools under the guise of being 'special schools.'" Justice David Nahmias dissented, writing, "The majority's reasoning and its result are terribly wrong, and if this case truly reflects the Court's position on the public education law of Georgia, it portends dire consequences that go far beyond the issue of state-created charter schools."

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Georgia Constitution

A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Georgia State Legislature to place an amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 120 votes in the Georgia House of Representatives and 38 votes in the Georgia State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

See also

2012 Measures

• 2012 Measures
• School choice policy on the ballot
• Public education governance on the ballot
• 2012 legislative sessions

Georgia

• Georgia ballot measures
• Georgia ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls