Opponents of school vouchers who thought the issue was dead for this legislative session were surprised Wednesday when the education “scholarship” bill was back on the table as part of HB 63.
Earlier this month, the Georgia Senate voted down a similar bill — Senate Bill 173. That legislation sought to establish state-funded accounts through which parents could redirect the $5,500 on average in state money now going to their child’s public school.
But on Wednesday, Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming) — the lead sponsor of SB 173 – was able to get his language added to HB 68 (a bill by Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, which would restrict the types of organizations that can collect and distribute tax credit funding for private school scholarships). The revised HB 68 – which included amendments, and amendments to amendments — narrowly passed the Senate Education and Youth Committee by a 5-4 margin.
Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta) had been among the small group of Republicans who voted against the original voucher bill, and he was the lone Republican to oppose the bill Wednesday in committee. Tippins did vote for an earlier motion to table the bill, but it failed 4-5.
“I just don’t think this is the right bill,” said Tippins. He went on to say that the financial accountability was lacking, making this bill “very very deficient.”
Steven Owens, of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, was among those speaking out against the bill.
“We have a long-standing opposition to bills that direct public money to private institutions,” he said. Owens went on to say that studies show this opens the door for fraud.
Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, supported the bill — stating that it’s time for Georgia to look at new ideas.
“This isn’t an attack on public education, it’s just saying that public education may not be the answer for every student. When you look at where we are ranked, maybe it’s time we try something different.”
The revised version includes a number of changes from the original bill, including:
* Students must have been in public school the prior year for the two FTE counts
* Students eligible are limited to students with special needs, students from families up to 150% of the poverty limit, children of active duty military parents, students adopted from foster care, and students with a documented case of being bullied
* Enrollment in the voucher program will be frozen in any year that there is an austerity cut to QBE
* The program cap was changed from 5% to 2.5% statewide and a 2.5% cap per district.
