New bills for Georgia Education
Georgia legislators, administrators, and students discuss two potential school choice
Graphic by Elizabeth Leffew
Katelyn Wu, News/Copy Editor, & Neha Gurram, Staff Writer
As the 40-day legislation session is reaching its halfway point, there are two bills regarding school vouchers that are on the table. Both bills mainly center around school choice, which can change a student’s typical path of financing their education depending on if they go through the public or private school route. In a traditional pathway, parents can decide whether they want to go to the public school they are districted to or attend a nearby public school. There are many factors that parents consider before making this decision, ranging from the quality of education they can receive at their public high school to the high tuition and transit costs private schools demand. However, the school voucher bill, better known as SB (Senate Bill) 233, allows parents to transfer their kids to private school from their district’s underperforming public high school and gives parents financial assistance to pay for the private school’s high tuition. The Senate passed this school choice bill last year, but the House still needs to vote on this issue. However, Senate District 50 Sen. Shawn Still is sponsoring SB 147, which focuses on giving underprivileged students the resources to attend virtual classes in a different county–something that the Georgia education system does not currently allow.
“Right now, kids that are in failing school systems that want to get out, cannot. There’s nowhere for them to go, and there’s no mechanism for them to do it,” Still said.
The main inspiration behind SB 147 comes from recognizing the lack of resources rural areas in Georgia have; this combined with the difficulty of college admissions leaves students in those areas not being able to get into large state schools. Still hopes that underprivledged students having access to higher level classes like honors and AP (Advance Placement) can give students a competitive edge in the admission process .
“If you don't have any honors or AP courses, is there any way possible to boost your GPA above a 4.0, if you're a straight-A student? Not at all. Those kids in those rural areas have no chance. They’ll never be able to go to [University of] Georgia or Georgia Tech simply because they don't have the classes to do it,” Still said.
Despite both bills being centered around school choice, there are various differences regarding the impact it financially has on the Georgia budget. SB 233 allocates a $6,500 voucher for each student in need that families can use for their private school tuition or homeschooling costs and the funds for public schools would be used to finance this voucher. On the other hand, SB 147 utilizes the same $6,500 from the public school funds to virtually move a student from one school district to another.
“My bill is only public school system to public school system. The other school voucher bill [SB 233] is like a check, you can take that, it goes towards private school education, towards charter school education, or if you go to homeschool [you can] pocket that money. [My bill is] still the same amount of money but it’s not transferring the money out of the Public School System of Georgia,” Still said.
Educators around the state have their own opinions on both the bills and whether they should pass them. Many opponents of SB 233 believe it is unfair that the government will potentially be placing state education money in the private education system, where following state education standards and policies are not a requirement.
“Private schools typically have a different set of standards and curriculum, therefore they should be funded privately,” Principal Martin Neuhaus said. “If you’re going to take public money you should be held to the same standards that a public school would be.”
Students at Northview High School have also brought up potential concerns about this subject. Sherry Zhou is a senior, and though she attends a public school, she acknowledges the multiple perspectives surrounding the bill.
“I understand and support the idea, but I feel like some of the more privileged Georgians won’t support that because it’s their tax money,” Zhou said.
Opponents of SB 147 believe that the brightest students leaving underperforming schools for a different district will further degrade the potential that underperforming school holds from becoming a top-performing school.
“The biggest argument has been the kid, if you have bright kids, you need to keep them in failing schools to help raise up the standard,” Still said.
Currently, these two bills are in different areas of the bill-to-law process, with SB 233 needing approval from the House Rules Committee to be voted on to become a law while the Senate still has to vote on SB 147. However, with education being a top priority in this legislative session, there are still various arguments being drawn out but improving the education system is a shared motive.
“Literacy rates in our state are unacceptable. Graduation rates are unacceptable. So we have to do something to give them options in the meantime. Because if all we do is just keep saying ‘we’re going to hope it gets better’ but we’re not doing anything to really make it get better, we’re going to lose generations of kids,” Still said.
