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DEL.ICIO.USLawmaker to get school-choice award
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
James Salzer reports that Senate President Pro-Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) is scheduled to be presented the Alliance for School Choice’s National Legislator of the Year Award Tuesday in Savannah.
That probably puts him out of the running for any awards from public school groups, like the Georgia Association of Educators.
Johnson championed legislation creating a private school voucher program for students with special needs, such as learning disabilities. He also has been a long-time supporter of legislation allowing more taxpayer-funded choice in education.
The Alliance is a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that advocates for vouchers and tax credits for parents to send their children to private schools. Vouchers advocates have been fighting for legislative support for years in Georgia and in other states, but they gained little ground here until Republicans began taking over the statehouse six years ago.
Groups like GAE have traditionally fought vouchers, saying they will weaken public schools by taking money out of public systems. Supporters of vouchers say the public school systems need the competition private schools provide to make them better.
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By Harry
June 24, 2008 12:04 AM | Link to this
Sen. Johnson is a strong leader. His efforts to build educational reform are to be commended. The GAE should remain neutral and be content with their taxpayer-funded $53 billion pension fund.