ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republicans on Thursday pushed a voucher plan to fund private school tuition and home study through the state Legislature, with Republican leaders overcoming long-standing skepticism from some local lawmakers. The move brings the state’s school choice advocates closer to a long-eluded goal.
The House passed Senate Bill 233 by a vote of 91-82, with one vote remaining. The same bill failed last year with 16 Republicans voting against it. On Thursday, seven Republicans and one Democrat who opposed the bill last year reversed their support.
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That vote would send the bill back to the Senate, where it could be voted yes or no for final passage. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp supports the voucher plan, devoting a significant portion of his State of the Union address to promoting it. And Republican House Speaker John Burns of Newington began pushing hard for the bill after spending the summer on the sidelines.
House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones (R-Milton) speaks in favor of Senate Bill 233 at the Georgia State Capitol on Thursday, March 14, 2024. The bill would give $6,000 a year in state funding to parents of children who choose private school. School education.
“We will empower parents to make the best educational decisions for their children and give them the tools to succeed for generations to come,” Burns said in Thursday’s vote. In a later statement, he said:
The bill would provide $6,500 in education savings accounts to students attending public schools that rank in the bottom 25% of Georgia academically. That money can be spent on private school tuition, home study supplies, therapy, tutoring, and even early college courses for high school students.
This is combined with a number of other education initiatives and is different from last year’s failed measures. But opponents say the bill would take funding away from public schools, meaning school districts would lose state aid as children drop out, even as other students are left behind.
Rep. Vance Smith, D-Pine Mountain, one of eight House Republicans who remained opposed to the bill, said lawmakers should instead try to fix dysfunctional schools.
“Even after the dust settles, there are still kids in the classroom,” Smith said. “What are we doing for children who are left behind in the classroom?”
The new program would be capped at spending $141 million, or 1% of the $14.1 billion Georgia spends on its school funding system. Lawmakers would appropriate money for vouchers separately and not take it directly from the formula. This could potentially provide more than 21,000 scholarships. Acceptable students must have attended an eligible public school for at least two consecutive terms or be scheduled to enroll in kindergarten at an eligible public school.
Students from households with incomes less than four times the federal poverty level will receive priority scholarships. Four times the federal poverty level equates to about $100,000 for a family of three.
Parents will need to provide proof of authorized spending to request new money from the Georgia Education Savings Authority.All eligible children in the family can qualify for the program
Democrats argue that this funding is not enough to pay tuition at most private schools and that private schools are not available in some rural areas. It also says private schools do not have to accept all applicants and may discriminate against people with different social or religious views. Rep. Carlton Howard, an Augusta Democrat, said the plan widens inequality and favors people with the resources to make up the difference.
“The smallest people are left to fend for themselves,” Howard said.
But Republicans see it differently. Mesha Miner, a Republican from Atlanta, switched from the Democratic Party in part because of her support for vouchers. He said the bill would help at least some people, and his former party members argued it would not help students in low-performing schools.
“They are growing up in a cycle of poverty and despair. Today, you can make a difference for them,” Mainor said.
Georgia’s efforts are part of a fight over what children should learn in public schools in the wake of the pandemic and a wave of Republicans nationwide supporting education savings accounts.
Other parts of the revised bill include including current teacher pay increases in Georgia’s K-12 school funding system and a state mandate to build and equip public school preschool programs. These include making students eligible for aid, enrolling students in other acceptable public school districts, and allowing enrollment increases. Tax deduction for donations to public schools.
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The language regarding teacher raises is partially symbolic, and lawmakers have used budget proposals in recent years to raise salaries.
Georgia already provides vouchers to special education students in private schools and provides $120 million in annual income tax credits to donors to private school scholarship funds.
