State Sen. Jason Carter Opposes Charter School Amendment

State Sen. Jason Carter says he opposes the charter school amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot, but not because he's against charter schools.

Carter, the state senator representing Decatur and North Druid Hills, complains in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "Get Schooled" blog that politicians are using ballot questions to subvert the process of changing the state constitution.

He says,

This manipulation demonstrates that our constitutional amendment process is broken because it allows politicians to put whatever they want on the ballot—with no oversight to prevent abuse. And this has become a habit, no matter who is in power....

I personally support charter schools, and I encourage local boards to expand them. But no matter what we think about the state government creating charter schools, or local control of education, we cannot tolerate the ballot being used to mislead voters.

Other politicians support the amendment, including state Sen. Fran Millar of Dunwoody.