I just stumbled across some referendums that are MAYBE going to be on our 2016 balloot.

[napi21]

Two are listed as probable & 3 are possible.

Here's a link.

https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia_2016_ballot_measures

One concerns me because I don't quite understand it.

The Georgia State Intervention in Failing Public Schools Amendment is on the November 8, 2016 ballot in Georgia as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. The measure, upon voter approval, would empower the state "to assume the supervision, management, and operation of public elementary and secondary schools which have been determined to be failing through any governance model allowed by law."[1]

Approval of the amendment by voters would trigger the implementation of Senate Bill 133. SB 133 would provide for three governance models of schools under an "Opportunity School District" (OSD) agency. The three models would be (1) direct management by the OSD, (2) shared governance between the OSD and local board of education and (3) transformation of the school into a charter school. The OSD would also have the power to close schools as the “intervention of last resort.”[2]

The Athens Banner-Herald said the amendment is modeled after the Recovery School District in Louisiana.[3]

What does that mean? Is it really going to be good for Ga. students, or does it just give us more
Charter Schools?

There is another one that may be of interest to all of you. See he link. I'm afraid Skinner will get upset if I copy too much. But Ga. is MABR going to get a referendum vote on recreational MJ! That really surprised me!

[Phentex]

1. Thanks for posting these...

just saw on the news this morning that religious leaders are against the one you mentioned. I'm not sure I understand it either. Went to the link you posted and looked at those too. Seems to me like everybody wants some part of the school system now. Of course, at the same time, no one wants to pay for it!

[groundloop]

2. That looks like another path to privatize public schools

This initiative, if passed, will allow the state to take low performing schools away from the public and give them to private corporations to form charter schools. It's pretty clear that school districts with plenty of resources do well, and school districts with fewer resources do poorly. IMO, the answer isn't in privatizing schools but rather in adequately funding our public schools.

Here's an excerpt from the linked ballotpedia article:

Rev. Frank Brown, president of Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, and Verdaillia Turner, president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers, deemed the amendment "hype," saying, "Our kids deserve a great, high-quality public education that is based on proven strategies, not hype." The pair elaborated:

“ Gov. Nathan Deal is promoting legislation to create a so-called Opportunity School District that would turn over control of struggling schools to the state or to private companies that operate charter schools. Deal is basing his design on other state takeovers, especially Louisiana’s takeover of New Orleans schools...
The only thing that is trapping kids in low-performing schools is a resistance to using proven programs that will help turn around schools and give all kids a great, high-quality public education. Let’s fix struggling schools with proven programs, not close them, farm them out or privatize them.

Let’s look at New Orleans, the highly touted supposed miracle on the Gulf on which Deal’s proposal is based. Practically every public school there has become a charter school since Hurricane Katrina.

Here are the facts. No doubt about it, New Orleans public schools were struggling before Hurricane Katrina, but the main reason is that they were starved for resources. Yet, research has found that test scores for New Orleans public schools were rising before Katrina hit. Today, after the drastic privatization changes, student achievement in New Orleans schools continues to be near the bottom of all the parishes in the state of Louisiana...[4]


It's pretty clear that school districts with plenty of resources do well, and school districts with fewer resources do poorly.