Tag Archives: Education

16,713 Voted in Lowndes County Georgia by 29 Oct 2012

16,713 people have voted in Lowndes County Georgia in the first two weeks of early voting, through Monday:

Daily and 16,713 Total voting in Lowndes County Georgia by 29 October 2012

DateDailyTotal
Monday October 151,6361,636
Tuesday October 161,2252,861
Wednesday October 179563,817
Thursday October 186434,460
Friday October 191,4335,893
Monday October 221,2897,724
Tuesday October 231,4499,173
Wednesday October 241,36310,536
Thursday October 251,40811,944
Friday October 261,78313,727
Saturday October 271,27915,003
Monday October 291,70716,713
Data courtesy of Lowndes County Board of Elections.
You can still vote during extended voting hours 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. this week at the Board of Elections, 2808 N Oak St., Valdosta, or on that great election day, November 6th, at your precinct. Several recent elections here have been decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote counts!

-jsq

Update 30 Oct 2012: Added missing Monday 22 Oct 2012 numbers to table and figure.

Why No on Amendment 1 —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175

J.C. Cunningham, running for state representative district 175, reminded us all that the basic purpose of the Georgia state government is to provide public education, according to its constitution, and that local school boards already can and do approve charter schools. He gave five reasons for voting No on Amendment 1:

  1. Because out-of-state corporations are paying for this campaign….
  2. It creates a new Atlanta-based government bureaucracy.
  3. The new commission will be filled by appointments done by politicians, not the citizens.
  4. Georgia already has 200 charter schools, and we’ve already proven the process works.
  5. A Yes vote would… cost us an additional $430 million while most of our schools are not open a full year as it is….

The only reasoning that I can tell you that proponents have been giving us is school choice, and again, they already have school choice; we have school choice. The only new things about Amendment 1 are higher cost and unnecessary state bureaucracy….

Here’s the video, followed by a partial transcript.

Why No on Amendment 1 —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175
Talks, Liberty Outbreak (LO),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
VHS PAC, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 October 2012.

Partial transcript:

Continue reading →

Two more charter school polls: Amendment 1 still losing support

Two more polls about the charter school amendment show conflicting results, but even the most optimistic still shows decreased support since September. Opponents of the Amendment 1 power grab are winning.

Charter school Amendment 1 polls through 25 October 2012

Wayne Washington wrote for the AJC 12 October 2012, Poll shows tight race for charter schools amendment,

Continue reading →

Support plummeting for charter school amendment

Support for the charter school amendment, previously falling, is now dropping like a rock. Saba Long wrote the Saporta Report 15 October 2012, Latest polls show the Charter School Amendment vote will be close, but the actual poll results, when compared to previous polls, including those before T-SPLOST lost by a landslide, say Amendment 1 is going down in flames.

Georgia Charter School Polls 2012-10

That poll conducted 4 and 5 October showed 34.2% saying they would definitely vote no and 18.06% saying probably no. That’s 52.26% No, which is far higher than 26.2% only a month before.

The pollsters, HEG-GPS, say, Re: October 4-5 Charter School Amendment Survey, 15.35% responded Probably Yes and only 9.30% said Definitely Yes. That’s 24.62% Yes, far down from the 48.3% Yes of a month before.

Yet only 23.12% responded Unsure, which is hardly changed from 25.5% a month before. It sure looks to me like this is not just undecideds switching to No. It looks like a lot of formerly Yes votes are switching to No.

It looks even worse compared to T-SPLOST. Two weeks before the 31 July Primary election, Continue reading →

15,006 Voted in Lowndes County Georgia by 27 Oct 2012

15,006 people have voted in Lowndes County Georgia in the first two weeks of early voting, including Saturday:

Daily and 15,006 Total voting in Lowndes County Georgia by 27 October 2012

DateDailyTotal
Monday October 15 1,636 1,636
Tuesday October 16 1,225 2,861
Wednesday October 17 956 3,817
Thursday October 18 643 4,460
Friday October 19 1,433 5,893
Tuesday October 23 1,449 9,173
Wednesday October 24 1,363 10,536
Thursday October 25 1,408 11,944
Friday October 26 1,783 13,727
Saturday October 27 1,279 15,003
Data courtesy of Lowndes County Board of Elections.
You can still vote during extended voting hours this week at the Board of Elections, or on that great election day, November 6th, at your precinct. Several recent elections here have been decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote counts!

-jsq

Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175 @ 30Club 2012-10-22

J.C. Cunningham for Georgia House district 175 @ 30 Club 2012-10-22 J.C. Cunningham, running for statehouse district 175, says vote No on the charter school amendment. At the 30 Club Political Forum at Serenity Church School Monday, he was asked about differences from his opponent, and he answered:

Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175
Political Forum, 30 Club
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.

This amendment was put on for one reason and one reason only, because there are powers that did not get their way and it was strictly for money-grubbing, for-profit charter corporations that would further take money away from our Department of Education.

J.C. Cunningham’s opponent, the incumbent Amy Carter, only showed up at one of the four local candidate forums in Lowndes County. However, she voted both for HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballot and for HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.

We know where J.C. Cunningham for district 175 stands: against the charter school amendment.

-jsq

Vote No on Amendment 2 —Charlie in Peach Pundit

Let's cut to the chase on what Charlie wrote for Peach Pundit 18 Oct 2012:

Georgia needs significant ethics reforms. There needs to be greater transparency for those who do business with the state. Trust must be restored. Good governance must be demonstrated.

Paying slightly higher rates for a few more years is a small price to pay to avoid giving away 20 year favors to today's patronage class. Vote no on this amendment. That is the best way to save Georgians money.

Georgia is the worst state for legislative corruption. Do we want those legislators committing us financially for 10 or 20 years? If knowing it's an ALEC bill wasn't enough for you, maybe this will be. Vote No on amendment 2.

-jsq

Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174 @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Teresa Lawrence for Georgia House district 174 @ AAUW 2012-10-24 Teresa Lawrence, running for statehouse district 174, says vote No on the charter school amendment. She was asked about it at the AAUW Political Forum at Valdosta High School Wednesday, and answered:

Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174
Political Forum, Deborah Van Petten, President (AAUW), Dr. Jim Peterson, Moderator
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta High School, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.

I believe we should vote no for the charter school amendment. We have a means of passing it at the local level to approve charter schools now, and I don’t believe we need to give that decision over to the state level.

Ellis Black Teresa Lawrence’s opponent, the incumbent Ellis Black, did not show up at any of the four local candidate forums in Lowndes County. However, he voted both for HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballog and for HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.

We know where Teresa Lawrence for district 174 stands: against the charter school amendment.

-jsq

13,727 Voted in Lowndes County Georgia by 26 Oct 2012

A record 1,783 people voted Friday, bringing the total to 13,727 who have voted in Lowndes County Georgia in the first two weeks of early voting:

Daily and 13,727 Total voting in Lowndes County Georgia by 26 October 2012

DateDailyTotal
October 15, 2012 1,636 1,636
October 16, 2012 1,225 2,861
October 17, 2012 956 3,817
October 18, 2012 643 4,460
October 19, 2012 1,433 5,893
October 23, 2012 1,449 9,173
October 24, 2012 1,363 10,536
October 25, 2012 1,408 11,944
October 26, 2012 1,783 13,727
Data courtesy of Tiffany Linkswiler, Lowndes County Board of Elections.

Somewhere around 25% of registered voters have already voted. But there are plenty more voters out there.

You can still vote today (Saturday), during extended voting hours next week, or on that great election day, November 6th. Several recent elections here have been decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote counts!

-jsq

Library open records request 2012-10-26

The most-organized open records response ever! Well, that we’ve asked for, anyway. Sure, sometimes local government bodies deliver a three-ring binder of papers. Sometimes they deliver a CD. Sometimes they deliver on a USB stick. Nobody ever delivered all of the above. OK, I brought the USB stick and the scanner (not pictured), but look at that CD lying on top of the really thick binder: the CD contains everything that’s in the binder, and that saved us a lot of scanning time.

Thank you, Kelly Lenz, Patrick Spurlock, and Tom Gooding!

It will take a bit of time to process all this information; stay tuned.

Kelly Lenz, Library Director, Tom Gooding, Attorney

Kelly Lenz, Library Director, Tom Gooding, Attorney
Left to right: an extra item, the four architect presentations, the “bible” of what the new library should be (the thick binder and the CD), and agendas, minutes, and board packets (the other two binders).
Picture by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
at South Georgia Regional Library, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 October 2012.

I know of at least one open records request somewhere else that, two years later and counting, Continue reading →