Georgia makes many more students than expected eligible for school vouchers

ATLANTA– Hundreds of thousands of students in Georgia are eligible $6,500 vouchers to pay for private school tuition or homeschooling costs — far more than many lawmakers expected — under an expansive interpretation of the law by the new agency administering the program.

Students who attend the lowest performing 25% of schools according to Georgia’s academic rating system are eligible to apply.

But the Georgia Education Savings Authority, a body created by law, wrote lines saying any student in the attendance zone of such a school is eligible, even if he or she does not attend that school. For example, if a high school is on the list, elementary and middle school students living in that zone can also apply.

“It will dramatically increase the number of students who qualify,” said Rep. Danny Mathis, a Republican from Cochran. He opposed the lawsaying it doesn’t actually solve the problems in public schools. Now, all students in four of the five counties Mathis represents south of Macon could have the opportunity to apply.

The law limited spending to 1% of the public school funding formula, or $144 million. That could provide more than 22,000 vouchers, if lawmakers decide to issue that much by 2025. But Georgia currently has 1.75 million public school students, and an Associated Press analysis shows that more than 400,000 students could get the opportunity to to register.

This broad eligibility means that applications can far exceed the spending limit, creating pressure to increase it. Some opponents have said that the push for universal vouchers has always been the intention.

It’s another example of how voucher programs work are on the rise nationally. Many supporters want all students to be eligible, regardless of their academic performance or family income. States that have adopted such universal voucherssuch as Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Ohio, reported more applications than expected, causing costs to skyrocket.

Georgian law is more limited. Only children assigned to a low-performing school who have been enrolled for two semesters or who are incoming kindergarten students may apply. If more students apply than there are vouchers available, students from households with incomes less than four times the federal poverty level will be given priority. That’s about $100,000 for a family of three. If there are still too many applications, a statewide random drawing will decide who gets the money.

The authority should accept applications early next year. The money can be spent on private school tuition, textbooks, transportation, homeschool supplies, therapy, tutoring or even early college courses for high school students.

Georgia Education Savings Authority spokesperson Hayley Corbitt pointed out the language in the lawstating that eligibility applies if “the student resides in the attendance zone of a listed public school.”

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, including Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones of Milton, say they want to rein in the authority’s interpretation. She says such broad eligibility is not what she was advocating.

“That wasn’t what I understood,” Jones said.

The House approved the program without any votes to spare this spring after seven rural Republicans and one Democrat flipped under pressure Gov. Brian Kemp, Speaker of the House of Representatives Jon Burns of Newington and other Republicans.

The chairman of the House Education Committee, Republican Rep. Chris Erwin of Homer, said if the rule is not rewritten, he will work to overturn it.

“The scholarships are specifically intended for children attending an individual school that meets the eligibility requirements, and are not intended to be provided to every student in a district where the qualifying school is located,” Erwin wrote in a text.

Erwin served as superintendent for 11 years in Banks County, where all students could qualify for vouchers.

It is unclear how Senate Republicans feel. Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming, who was consulted on rulemaking as the bill’s sponsor, referred questions to Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. A spokesperson for Jones did not immediately respond to phone calls, text messages and emails seeking comment on Wednesday.

The underperforming list itself is in flux. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, charged with calculating the grades, has withdrawn the list twice after superintendents questioned the calculations or officials determined that some schools, such as alternative schools, were accidentally included. Joy Hawkins, the agency’s director, said a third list should be published Thursday.

An Associated Press analysis of the second list found that every student in at least 67 of Georgia’s 180 public school districts, including every student in the districts serving Augusta and Macon, could be eligible. In many small districts with only one middle school or one high school, if one school is on the low-performing list, all students are eligible.

For example, the 4,500 students from all six schools in Baldwin County in central Georgia could be eligible because Oak Hill Middle School was rated as low performing. Also, at least half of students in at least 13 other districts would be eligible, including the city of Atlanta and the suburbs of DeKalb County, Clayton County and Douglas County.