From the Atlanta Business Chronicle…

The Georgia House of Representatives Wednesday defeated a constitutional amendment aimed at allowing the state to create charter schools.

While 110 lawmakers supported the proposal and 62 voted against it, the measure failed to gain the two-thirds majority needed to approve constitutional amendments.

As many of you are aware, CSD adamantly opposed the amendment, which would have overridden a State Supreme Court decision last year which ruled the State Charter School commission was unconstitutional.  Many metro Atlanta school systems opposed the commission because it was granted the authority to single-handedly create local charter schools – and thus divert per-student funding – without any consent from local populations.

Thanks to Steve for forwarding!

Got the BAD case of the Democrat blues this morning?  This may cheer the transit-Dems up.   From Atlanta Unfiltered…

Rep. Jill Chambers will be giving up her job as MARTA’s top watchdog, after losing her seat in the Georgia House of Representatives on Tuesday by about 275 votes to Democrat Elena Parent.

Chambers, first elected in 2002, has scrutinized and occasionally tormented the rapid-transit agency as chair of the Legislature’s MARTA Oversight Committee, also known as MARTOC. She’d questioned MARTA spending on lobbyists, pay raises, consultants, fitness equipment for employees, intricate bond deals and much more. And that was all before lunchtime.

Chambers has been under harsh scrutiny of late after the MARTA fiscal watchdog filed for personal bankruptcy.

In other MARTA news, Maria Saporta points out that 70% of Clayton County residents voted in favor of a non-binding referendum to “become a full participant in MARTA by charging a sales tax in support of MARTA and the county’s public transportation needs.”

This is the week Georgia’s candidates for Congress, statewide offices, district attorneys and the General Assembly are required to formally submit their applications to appear on the ballot. The hip kids refer to this ritual as qualifying. It’s not exactly thrilling, but the list inevitably yields a couple “who’s running and who isn’t” surprises.

Rep. Karla Drenner (D – Avondale) is the only Decatur or Decatur-ish representative on the list so far. We’ll keep an eye on it this week and let you know if there are any surprise additions or omissions.

If you have an extraordinarily high tolerance for boredom, the Secretary of State’s office updates its online list as the papers come in.

(Post by Andisheh Nouraee, filling in for Mr. DM)

Apparently the Georgia House of Representatives thinks so.

In a 137 to 33 vote yesterday, the AJC reports that the House approved legislation that would give the governor power to remove local school board members, based on a recommendation by the State Board of Education.  The measure now goes back to the Senate for a vote.

According to the news org, the legislation is a reaction to Clayton County’s loss of accreditation last year.   And while I understand the state’s concern when a school system completely fails its students, this seems a bit drastic and big government-ish for Georgia’s Republican Party.

Why does it seem like the State’s (R)uling party keeps trying to take more and more power away from local governments?  What happened to the “local knows best” mentality?  Is that particular ideology up for grabs in political arenas again?