TIFTON —  Lowndes County and Valdosta city school systems representatives as well as other school systems within the Coastal Plains, Southwest Georgia and Okefenokee Regional Education Service Agency met Tuesday night at Moultrie Technical College’s Tifton campus to discuss opposition to the charter school amendment.

“Your presence is a great representation of your belief in public education,” said Tift County Board of Education Vice-Chair Kim Rutland as she addressed the crowd of school and community officials. “It is imperative that we work together.”

The public-awareness session — which was only one of six organized across the state — prepared school officials to face what was referred to as a “faceless enemy.”

Last year, the Georgia Supreme  Court struck down a 2008 law that would allow the state to create and fund a dual system of state charter schools under the creation of the Georgia Charter School Commission. The court ruled that the commission was illegal because it approved and funded charter schools despite          objections from local school boards. The ruling did not apply to charter schools that were not opposed.

Enabling funding for state charter schools, House Bill 797 — which takes away control of local school boards and allows for the state to be the sole appointee of charter schools — was signed into law May 3 of this year by Gov. Nathan Deal and will only take effect if the Georgia charter schools amendment gains public approval in November.

There is already a system to create charter schools. Those wishing to form a charter school must approach the school board in their area and gain approval. If the board denies their request, those individuals may appeal to the state and the state may override the denial of the board.

“This amendment is not about charter schools,” said Georgia School Board Association President and Decatur city school board member Valerie Wilson. “It’s state control versus local control.”

The reality is that school boards can already approve charter schools and allowing a state committee to be the sole appointees of charter schools is nothing more than taxation without representation, Wilson said.

“There is no accountability for them as this independent committee that just sits there,” said Wilson. “That’s problematic when you’re looking at tax dollars.”

The state cut public school budgets by $3 billion in the last three years and another $1 billion will be added to that total for the upcoming school year.

A big question from session participants addressed funding. People wanted to know where the money was going to come from.

“They said they will just shuffle money around and find dollars,” said Wilson.

For just the creation of the independent charter school commission, it will cost $1 million. Operation for the next three years could cost nearly $430 million.

Despite not having the vote secured, the state legislator has already budgeted money for the funding of charter schools. In a time when the state has cut the allocation of funds to public education in the millions for several individual schools alone, the possibility of losing more money is unsettling.

“We cannot continue to increase class sizes,” said Wilson.

Right now, more than two-thirds of Georgia public school systems have less than 180 days.

“When they fund (charter schools), what are we left to do?” Wilson asked.

The answer: Local property taxes will increase to make up budget shortfalls as the state reduces funding for existing public schools and various academic and athletic programs will continue to be cut.

“When you have a dual system, trust me, someone loses,” said Wilson.

The governor’s 2013 budget gave $8 million to charter schools plus the 2013 supplemental budget now includes $26 million going to charter schools. That’s an added $34 million for 43,000 kids versus the 1.6 million students in public schools.

Aside from concerns with the funding mechanism, another big issue of contention lies with the accountability of charter schools.

Charter schools are not bound by accountability laws regarding class sizes and are not required to hire certified teachers. This means that while teachers in public education must have a bachelor’s and even a master’s degree to teach, charter school teachers need no more than a high school diploma.

For the 2010-2011 school year, 73 percent of traditional public schools in Georgia met Adequate Yearly Progress targets while only 70 percent of charter schools met those same targets.

Mediators of the session also received several questions regarding the language of the ballot question that was described as “purposely misleading.”

“The way it is worded was done that way purposefully,” said Wilson.

The amendment, which will appear on November’s ballot as Amendment 1, reads:

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?”

The preamble to the questions states that it “provides for improving student achievement and parental involvement through more public charter school options.”

Many audience members at the session stated that the wording was deceptive and those not familiar with the amendment would vote yes based solely on the wording.

That is precisely what legislators are counting on, according to a handout by the Georgia Association of Educators. The ballot question was poll-tested and carefully crafted to confuse and mislead voters into thinking that by voting yes, they will be helping Georgia kids and public schools.

While those against the charter school amendment have developed a large grassroots following in the southern region of the state, they are still facing an opposition worth $1 million.

“It’s very hard for us to combat that sort of money,” said GSBA Executive Director Sis Henry.

Much of the opposition’s funding has come from contributors outside of the state of Georgia, according to reports filed with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission by the organization Families for Better Public Schools — a campaign advocating for the charter school vote.

• Education Reform Now from New York gave $6,000

• K12, Inc. from Virginia gave $1,000

• Charter Schools USA from Florida gave $50,000

• J.C. Huizenga of the Huizenga Group from Michigan gave $25,000

• National Heritage Academies in Michigan gave $25,000

• Students First of California gave $6,000

• Alice Walton of Arizona gave $250,000

In total, 43 of the groups’ contributions came from donors and organizations outside of Georgia.

For the Vote SMART! No for State Controlled Schools group, not one of its contributions came from outside of the state.

While those in support of the Charter School Amendment are vastly growing, people such as the S.O.S. (Save Our Schools) Response Team are willing to put up a fight.

Hahira Middle School teachers Ashleigh Tucker, Janet Hendley, Shirly Davis and Denise McCrary made T-shirts which are spreading across the state.

“People across the state are catching wind,” said Tucker.

Members of the community may remember Tucker from her original T-shirt campaign of “R.I.P. the U.S. Constitution” a few years ago.

“I’ve always said that T-shirts are a walking billboard,” said Tucker. “It’s to get people asking questions.”

Tucker and the rest of the response team sold T-shirts at the session Tuesday night urging people to “Save Our Schools” and to “Vote No.” For more information, email saveourschools794@gmail.com.

“They’re depending on South Georgia to swing the vote,” said Tucker.

A press release from Families for Better Public Schools stated that for a third consecutive poll, 58 percent of Georgia voters support the November ballot question. Of those who answered the poll as “voting yes,” an additional 5 percent answered “definitely yes”.

The poll was conducted by McLaughlin and Associates and only featured 1,000 likely general election voters in the state of Georgia and was conducted from Sept. 9-11.

For those questioning the legality of school officials lobbying for a ballot question, Angela Palm, GSBA director of policy and legal services, said that there is noting illegal about it.

“When teachers are on their own time ... they can do whatever they want,” said Palm.

“Teachers are taxpayers, too, and we’ll be affected as citizens and in our careers,” said Tucker.

Lowndes County Schools Superintendent Wes Taylor also supported the efforts of his teachers.

“We would encourage our staff as well as our students to be good citizens and inform themselves and become educated on any issue as well as acquaint themselves with candidates and issues,” said Taylor.

While schools are not allowed to produce literature or explicitly state to vote one way or another, they are allowed to produce information that educates people on the issue.

However, one audience member at the session did not feel that what is and is not legal should take precedent over the issue.

“We need to be brave and not worry about consequences and stand up for our children,” she said.

She was met with applause, but to date, neither the Valdosta nor the Lowndes County school systems have violated any laws regarding their opposition to the amendment.

The charter school amendment will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot and early voting begins in two weeks.