The Georgia Student Finance Commission has received nearly 12,000 applications for a new voucher scholarship program that gives money to students who are zoned to attend low-performing public schools, a spokesperson for the commission said.
Of those, about 7,300 are eligible for the scholarship, according to the preliminary numbers.
Applications for the program opened last month and ended earlier this week. The now-closed application window is the first hint at how popular the program will be — and whether the funding lawmakers set aside will be enough to keep up with the interest.
State lawmakers budgeted $141 million for the scholarships this year, which can fund more than 21,000 scholarships. Hundreds of thousands of students in the state are eligible based on the schools they’re zoned to attend.
Each of the scholarships is worth $6,500 and can be used to pay for private school tuition, tutoring or other education costs.
There will be three more application periods this year: in June, September and December.
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