Down ballot questions are important, too
At the top of the November ballot will be the big question concerning the candidates for president, but way down ballot, there are other questions, the last voters will see in 2016, unless there is a runoff. These are the constitutional amendments.
The battle has begun and both sides are well armed when it comes to Amendment 1. Opponents have rolled out a six-figure ad campaign and proponents, led by Gov. Nathan Deal, have countered with their six-figure campaign. In the balance lies the fate of public schools that the state has deemed as failures.
Though the amendment, as we’ve said before, is ill-worded and designed to deceive, maybe the campaign against it will move enough voters to realize the measure isn’t about children but about who gets paid to educate those children. To reiterate, if the measure is successful, it would allow the state to form an Opportunity School District that could take over 20 schools a year for the next five years. The superintendent of this OSD would answer only to the governor.
Though it’s being touted as being a measure that will increase community input, that’s just a lie. The OSD would take over a school facility, paid for with local funds including all the equipment and it would receive local and state money that would have gone to the school had it stayed with the local district to boot. Whomever the state contracts to run the school would have the power to hire and fire teachers and staff, but there are no benchmarks it would have to meet. Imagine that. A for-profit education company could walk in, without any investment in infrastructure, and walk away with millions of dollars. After five years when their contract with the state expires, they could simply walk away. And best of all for the state, there will be no one to blame. Gov. Deal will have been long gone and local districts will be left picking up the pieces.
There are three other amendments dealing with dedicating money from the adult entertainment industry and penalties for sexual exploitation to child victims’ services; the reformation of the Judicial Qualifications Commission; and dedicating excise taxes from fireworks to trauma care, fire services and public safety. In the weeks ahead we will discuss each of these amendments.
This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Down ballot questions are important, too."