Plan does not address the deep problems with public education in Georgia

Sen. Eric Johnson is still trying to push school vouchers on the residents of Georgia. He should be paying more attention to improving the public school system in Georgia instead of trying to put a Band-Aid on the problem. Given the history of his own district, I would think he would want to improve the public education system outside of the few counties who take a lot of pride in what they have established in their own communities.

Vouchers do not begin to address the deep problems with public education in Georgia. All school vouchers will do is hand more money to already well-off people to help defray the costs of the private school educations they are already paying for. Even a $10,000 school voucher will not get a child into a good private school. This plan will punish systems such as Fayette, Fulton and Gwinnett, which will be forced to accept out-of-county students and stretch already thin resources.

I am a firm believer in the public school system, and I honestly believe that vouchers will only erode the system even more. When my husband —- the late state Rep. Dan Lakly (R-Peachtree City) —- and I lived in Hawaii, we so firmly believed in public education that we refused the advice of others and sent our son to public rather than private school. We could have afforded private school, but we always believed that the only way to make public education work was to get involved.

All of our boys are products of the Fayette school system. I have many friends and family involved in public education, and I will do whatever it takes to make the system better. With four grandchildren in Georgia public schools, I have a vested interest in seeing that the public education in Georgia continues to improve and that all counties mirror Fayette.

This won’t happen if Johnson has his way, and Republicans and Democrats both need to study this before making a rash decision on this issue. Do your homework, unlike last year when Johnson tried to sneak a voucher system in under the guise of helping Clayton County students by forcing systems like Fayette to accept their students. It took the power of Fayette residents to make sure that bill did not pass, as Johnson had the Senate rubber-stamp this bill.

Study how vouchers have not worked in other states, and instead look at what states have done across the country that have actually improved public school systems. How long has Johnson been involved in politics, and what has he done to improve the public schools in his own district?

Not very much, or he would not be trying to protect those already in private schools.

Do not swallow the half-truths and questionable polls Johnson espouses to advance vouchers on Georgia. This will not improve our failing public schools. It will not help the poor and disadvantaged. And it will not increase achievement.

Don’t become the taxpayer who has to pay for all the other failures while the poor and disadvantaged suffer through systems that could be like Fayette if their leaders had the backbone to make them better.

> Donna Lakly, the widow of former state Rep. Dan Lakly, lives in Peachtree City.