Georgia Amendment One: School Takeover Plan Loses At The Polls

ATLANTA, GA — An amendment to the Georgia constitution that would have allowed the state to take over perennially failing schools was defeated at the ballot box on Tuesday.

With all 159 Georgia counties reporting, the "no" vote topped the "yes" vote 60 percent to 40 percent — 2,400,312 to 1,599,649.

The amendment would have allowed for the creation of an "Opportunity School District" in the state.

Supporters, most notably Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, said that bringing in outside help and new leadership at underperforming schools would give students a chance to break out of an often poverty-driven cycle of failure.

Using a state rating system, schools that got a failing mark for three years in a row would have been moved into the Opportunity School District.

Using that system, there currently are 127 Georgia schools that would be categorized as failing.

The state would have appointed new administrators over the schools, who would have the power to fire teachers and other staff and make other major changes, including shutting down the schools or turning them into charter schools.

The superintendent of the Opportunity School District would have been appointed by the governor and ratified by the state senate, and would answer only to the governor.

The plan, however, met with broad-based and bipartisan opposition.

Groups from Georgia PTA to the NAACP to the state's largest teacher unions spoke out against the plan — saying it unfairly strips local control of schools, particularly in minority neighborhoods, and sends it to bureaucrats in state government.

In Lilburn, voter Maria Bess said she voted against the plan.

"I felt like the teachers should have an opportunity to take their own schools back," she said after voting at First Baptist Church of Lilburn.

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