Letter: Charter School Amendment Would Raise Taxes, Inequality

Georgia voters are set Nov. 6 to decide a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the state to approve local charter schools and their funding. Bartow resident Paul Nally says the move would hike state taxes and inequality among students.

Dear Editor,

Consider that question concerning the "special schools" provision of the proposed constitutional amendment appearing on the November ballot.

Of particular interest to the taxpaying citizens, both the younger who pay county school taxes and the elder who, here to now, have been exempt from that tax, is the meaning of section 3 of HR 1162 which provides:

The state is authorized to expend state funds for the support and maintenance of special schools in such amount and manner as may be provided by law; ...

What this means is simply that state taxes will have to be raised to pay for the "special schools" AND local taxes WILL NOT go down. PLUS, those elderly who are now exempt will have to pay increased state income taxes to pay for education. 

Yep, you guessed it. Your legislators finally figured a way to get into your pocket, and for you younger folks, TWICE, local taxes and increased state taxes! That happens because the Average Daily Attendance, upon which funding for a school is determined, by law, will not go down. That is due to the kids going to the special schools still being counted as attending their old school.

But of greater concern, is the fact that this new "special school / charter school" will not be attended by all the students in a school district, just a few; and their education exposure will be considerably better than the average school kids left behind. Do we now support leaving children behind?

That realization brings to my memory a US Supreme Court case and the implications of its holding. In Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 494-495 (1954) we read:

We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

If "separate but equal" is inherently unequal, and violates due process and equal protection, how much more offensive to these Constitutional concepts would "separate AND unequal" be?

The answer? Make every school attain the level of a “charter school”. Dumbing down the level of educational excellence, lowering the bar so to speak, should now be viewed as the idiocy of the indolent. “Consider the ant, thou sluggard; observer her ways and be wise!”

Of course, that could get in the way of Official Education’s attempt to educate our children to the maximum level of their acceptable ignorance.

Paul Nally

Rydal, GA

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