Senate President Pro-Tem Eric JohnsonPhoto Courtesy: GA Senate Press Office
A bill that offers scholarships to students in failing schools was approved by the Senate after a hearing that lasted nearly 90 minutes.
The measure is aimed at school districts like Clayton County, which are in danger of losing accreditation. It would also offer scholarship to students in schools designated for seven years as a Needs Improvement School. The vote was 32 to 21.
It would take the state portion of school funding away from failing school districts and allow parents to use that money to transfer their child to another public or private school, if that receiving school has room. That comes to about 41-hundred dollars per child in Clayton County.
Senate President Pro-Tem Eric Johnson authored the school voucher measure. He says it’s about helping the state's most disadvantaged families.
"At some point, we have to say the system has failed and it’s not about the system. It's about the child. This is not about rich kids. Rich kids are already in private schools and have already moved into good school districts. This is really about helping the lower and middle class, and the last thing they need is to be trapped into a school that's chronically failing."Education advocates oppose the measure because they say it undermines the state's public school system.
Brian Thomas is with the Georgia Association of Educators.
"We strongly oppose the voucher bill. We've spoken with Senator Johnson. We've tried to find the common ground on that bill. The piece that we have the most serious heartburn about is the private school piece. Public monies are intended for public school children. We believe that vouchers interrupt that and we do not support that."Earlier this week, more than 25-hundred residents of Clayton County attended a school district meeting. Two school board members lost their seat at that meeting, including one who says he'll appeal his removal to a Superior Court.
