Separate legislative committees each adopted a school-choice bill Wednesday, but only one emerged unchanged.

The House Science and Technology Committee approved Senate Bill 458, sponsored by President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), but it made one change that could be significant.

The bill would give taxpayer-funded vouchers to parents to send their children to private school or another public school, if the student's current public school loses its accreditation or receives a "needs improvement" rating for seven consecutive years.

The amendment would give a public school the option of accepting a voucher student, rather than requiring such acceptance.

That change could be significant, with Clayton County's schools in danger of losing their accreditation. Administrators in surrounding counties feared that Johnson's bill could force them to accept Clayton students that they might not have room for.

Johnson said that critics have said the bill "would dismantle public education."

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "Public schools that are exposed to vouchers perform better."

The panel engaged in little discussion before it passed Johnson's amended bill, which would have to return to the Senate if the House approved it that way.

Meanwhile, a split Senate Finance Committee passed House Bill 1133, sponsored by Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn). The measure would create an income tax credit for people and corporations that contribute to nonprofit scholarship organizations. Those organizations would give grants to students to attend private school.

The bill is a fine idea, Lydia Glaize, a parent of six from Fairburn, told the committee. Glaize said she sent her first two children to private schools. "I did that by force, not by choice," she said.

Glaize lived in New York then, she said, and her neighborhood schools were failing and violent. But now, she said, she cannot afford to send her two youngest children to private schools.

"If we as taxpayers cannot use our dollars, that should follow students for the best source of education, then we should allow the private sector to invest in our children through a scholarship fund."

The president of the Georgia Association of Educators, Jeff Hubbard, spoke against the bill.

"Our opposition is taking state funds, taxpayer income, and giving it over to private schools," Hubbard said.

The bill passed 6-3 without amendment. If approved in that form by the full Senate, it would go to the governor.