ATLANTA — Georgia’s new public school voucher program is stalled for the time being. The state has struggled to produce a list of schools where students would be eligible for the program.
There are a couple thousand public schools in Georgia. The lowest-performing schools are eligible, but the state has had trouble identifying which schools are eligible.
The bill passed by a one-vote margin in the state House of Representatives last March. Since then, the state has posted lists of schools --- only to pull those lists and start over.
"This list has been sent out. 'Oh no, we've got to change it. Pull back!' They send it again. Now they pulled back a second time," said Lisa Morgan, who leads a teachers' organization that tried unsuccessfully to stop the bill.
The state calls it a "promise scholarship." It makes students in the state’s lowest-performing public schools eligible for vouchers of up to $6,500 to use at a private school if they want—stripping that money from the public school they’re leaving. Backers said the program would provide "school choice" and incentivize lower-performing schools to improve.
Morgan says the state also made students in higher-performing elementary schools eligible for the scholarship – if they’re routed to a lower-performing middle or high school. The sponsor of the bill, state Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), told 11Alive, “We will most certainly fine-tune it as we get feedback” on the program.
Morgan says she’d like to see it repealed entirely. "What’s wrong with it is the whole program, in our opinion," she said.
Dolezal told us it’s too soon to say how the legislature will fine-tune the law. Given that it passed with just a one-vote margin last year – with new lawmakers in place next year following this year’s election – nothing is certain.