email : Webview : URGENT - GAE Action Alert - Tuesday, March 12, 2024

VOTE ON VOUCHERS TOMORROW!

GAE has learned that a vote on private school vouchers is expected in the House Education Committee tomorrow.

Details on changes to be made to the bill, which was defeated last year by six votes, are slim.

However, from what we have learned, the bill is actually worse than the bill voted down last session. The bill steals from the poorest students in the poorest schools to pay for more privileged students to attend private schools.

Proposed changes to the bill appear also to make eligible students from families that make 400 percent of the federal poverty line, $124,800 for a family of four.

The backers of private school vouchers may be holding proposed pay raises hostage in exchange for yes votes.

Talking points on SB 233

SB 233 robs the poorest students in Georgia's poorest schools of the funding they need. That funding is siphoned off to pay for the private school education of more privileged children.

If just 5% of eligible families participate, public school students and schools will lose $300 million in funding each year.

Under the bill, for every dollar in per pupil funding for public schools, two dollars are given away to subsidize private school students.

SB 233 gives false hope to working families. The amount of the voucher, $6,500, isn’t nearly enough to pay for most private schools, for which tuition may be as high as $50,000. As one writer stated: "To poor families confronted with such prices, a voucher isn’t a lifeline, it’s a taunt."

Vouchers are not a lifeline for working families, they are a handout to upper class parents paid for by the working class.

In states that have private schools vouchers, a large majority of students utilizing the program were already enrolled in private school. In Arizona, 80% of the students using a private school voucher have never been enrolled in a public school. In New Hampshire, 89% have never attended a public school;

SB 233 pays parents of home-schooled children $6,500 per child. According to a pro-homeschooling website, the cost to homeschool a child per school year is $500 to $1,500, not $6,500.

Where vouchers have been enacted, fraud follows. An Arizona audit showed $1 billion in fraudulent misuse of voucher dollars spent on "educational expenses," like horseback-riding and tennis lessons, home gyms, and museum tours in Europe.

"There is no transparency or accountability in the bill. A group of parents whose children benefit from the voucher get to determine for themselves which 'education expenses' are okay."

All protections against discrimination of students based on religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, sex and disability disappear in private schools. Further, private schools have no obligation to enroll any student. The choice belongs to the school ... not the parent.

Vouchers are not popular in Georgia. A poll conducted by the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs earlier this year found that 2/3rd of Georgians said they oppose using taxpayer funds to pay for private schooling. Another poll by the school asked:

Q1. Which action below do you think would best support students in underperforming schools?

A. Give parents $6,500 to pay for tuition at a private school (14.8%)
B. Provide these public schools with additional state support (43.7%)
C. Increase choice options, such as charter schools or dual enrollment (29.4%)
None of the Above (3.8%)
Don't know (8.3%)

VOTE ON VOUCHERS TOMORROW!

Use GAE's two-click process
to email your House Representative NOW

Share the radio ads below on vouchers

Talking points on SB 233

VOTE ON VOUCHERS TOMORROW!

Use GAE's two-click process to email your House Representative NOW

Share the radio ads below on vouchers

Talking points on SB 233

Use GAE's two-click process
to email your House Representative NOW