Gov. Brian Kemp signed off on a school vouchers bill Tuesday afternoon. The signing comes after the governor put his weight behind school choice early in this year’s legislative session.
When it comes to getting school choice done in Georgia, there are no more next years. https://t.co/Dcqgnv2fZj
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) March 12, 2024
Kemp signed Senate Bill 233 with a slew of legislators behind him. “This legislation has always been about one thing: providing every Georgia child the opportunity to get the education that they deserve,” the state’s top Republican said.
The bill gives parents $6,500 a year if they pull their child out of a low-performing public school and assume full responsibility for educating their child, whether at a private school or at home.
But, longtime reporter Maureen Downey tells the hosts of “Politically Georgia” on Wednesday that the decision to pass this measure was largely “political.”
Credit: Todd Duncan
Credit: Todd Duncan
“I think the folks who are fighting for the voucher bill are middle-class; these are legislators in middle-class communities,” Downey says.
Many Democrats and critics of the bill share these concerns, stating that subsidies will enrich well-off families and further burden taxpayers.
Downey also worries that the voucher credit will largely be used in metro Atlanta, not rural schools.
“We’ll probably see the greatest usage of this law in metro Atlanta for the simple reason that there are existing private schools here,” the longtime education reporter says. “And so parents won’t have to sort of search high and low the way they will in rural Georgia.”
Education Week reported at least 29 states have private voucher programs. Georgia now joins that slate.
Downey says the 1.7 million students attending Georgia’s public schools rely on those institutions as community builders.
“I think that we will lose something when we devalue our public schools,” she says, “and I will not mince words: These voucher bills are truly devaluing our public schools.”
AJC staff writer Ty Tagami contributed to this article.
Thursday on “Politically Georgia”: Lauri Strauss of the Atlanta Press Club joins the show to talk about why several incumbents are skipping the debates leading into the May primary.
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