Allies of Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue have finally introduced a measure to amend the Georgia Constitution to legitimize the state's many contacts and contracts with faith-based organizations.  I last noted Perdue's promise to do so here, where you can find links to pieces I've written on this issue in the past.

The Atlanta paper is none too pleased, making the predictable arguments against it:

Gov. Sonny Perdue and his allies are once again pushing an amendment to the state constitution that would allow faith-based groups to accept public money to perform public services, from teen counseling to homeless shelters. The goal, according to the legislation, is "to prevent discrimination in the public funding of social services by allowing religious or faith-based organizations to receive public aid, directly or indirectly, for the provision of such services."

But once again, that proposal purports to "solve" a problem that simply doesn't exist, since dozens of faith-based groups in Georgia already take taxpayer money to perform needed public services, with no controversy or difficulty under existing law. Many such groups do a good job, and they are an integral part of the state's service-providing system.

Naturally, that fact has led a lot of people to wonder what Perdue's real goal might be in once again pushing this legislation, which he has sought since 2003. The best guess seems to be that Perdue is using the proposed amendment to crack open the door for state funding of religious-based private schools, to the detriment of public systems around the state.

I wonder if Jay Bookman, the AJC editorial board member who wrote this, has given any thought to SB 10, the "Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act" (text here), which has passed the Senate and recently made it out of a House committee.  My recollection is that the AJC editorialized in favor of this bill (board member Maureen Downey's editorials are noted here and here), and Jim Wooten has been tireless on this subject (see here and here).  Does he think that the unamended Georgia Constitution would permit or prohibit these special needs vouchers?  Does he oppose them on basically the same grounds as the teachers' unions, or favor them as a means of permitting parents to do what's best for their special needs children?

For what it's worth, the vote on SB 10 in the Senate (31-23) is, I fear, a very good proxy for SR 345.  It's roughly comparable to past votes of the Faith and Family Services Amendment, and not good enough to send the measure to the voters for their approval.  We're likely still to be stuck with a state constitution that, read fairly, renders problematical the very things Bookman says are not. 

And should SB 10 become law, I wonder whether anyone will have the temerity to challenge it in court.