ARE WE JUST TOO STUPID TO VOTE?

            As to the outcome of our recent national election, what can I say that most of you haven’t said already?  We had out chance and blew it but, take heed in the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said, “The good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army.  They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves.”  Let us all hope that our political leadership can correct their path to be more in tune with today’s issues but still hold fast to the principles and guidelines of our forefathers. 

We just got too wrapped up in the Big Election to keep an eye on what was on the rest of the ballot.  You know what I’m talking about, the stuff that will eventually affect you and your family every day -- big city issues and little town issues within your state that had made it to the ballot for your approval or disapproval and needed to be decided upon.  But, it’s not easy to make a decision if you don’t bother to examine the pros and cons of that which you are privileged to vote on.

            Georgia, for example had a lot of interest in a vote concerning a constitutional amendment, a very confusingly stated amendment, allowing a state board to issue charters for private operators to run independent public schools.  We were bombarded with commercials showing young children extolling the virtues of their local charter school and how they no longer had to deal with gangs and lack of supplies and inadequate supervision.  We were made to feel like ogres if we did not agree to make schools like this available in our own community.  The Amendment passed 58 per cent yes to 41 per cent no.   Big win for the kids, right?  Wrong.  Big loss for local school boards and their communities.

            If voters had gone to Georgia’s Secretary of State’s website before election day, they would have found that more than 300 charter schools already exist right here. These schools came into being after local citizens approached their school board with concerns that this type of school may be necessary in their area.  After a period of discussion and laying out the pros and cons, a vote was taken as to the additional steps necessary.  You do understand that this is all being done at the local level with essentially neighbors talking to neighbors; all having a tie to each other within the same community.  If  the proposed school is given a go ahead, state and local funding will be used to support it.  If the school board rejects the idea and the community still wants to go ahead with the idea they can appeal to the state.  The school board members eventually will be at the mercy of the local voters come election time if they do not comply with the wishes of the majority.

            Under the new system that has been voted into place, the state will assemble a charter commission that will consider applications by operators to run these new charter schools.  Local school boards will not have any say over these applications.  Charter schools are financed with public money but, they are run by private organizations.  Many of these organizations and the people involved with them do not even reside in the state.

            We’re looking forward to seeing how or how much this constitutional amendment affects the state’s education system or,  is this just another attempt to take control over our local affairs by those who “know what’s right for us.”

            We’d like to hear your comments on any local election results in your areas that you feel were not as well researched as they should have been.  Also, what’s your take on same sex marriage, marijuana use and other such state’s rights issues in the news. 

All the best,

Sharon