Most Georgia students who benefit from a tax-based scholarship program for private K-12 schools are from families of modest household incomes.
The exact numbers are not available because of secrecy around the state’s 2008 Education Expense Credit law, but Lisa Kelly, president of the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program, Inc., gave the basic outlines Friday to members of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission. She also described an immense appetite to expand the program, which allows school scholarship donors to recoup their largess via state tax credits. The program reached its cap of $58 million on the first day of eligibility this year.
Kelly said more than 90 percent of students who received scholarships were from households living on $48,000 or less and that the average adjusted gross income was $25,525.
Critics, and even one supporter who testified Friday, contend more detail should be available about this use of public money.
Scott Jensen, a former Wisconsin politician who is a school choice advocate, told members of Deal’s commission that a lack of transparency undermines support for expanding such tax-rebate programs. He said Georgia’s law needs both more transparency and more accountability.
There is no information about administrative costs at schools that benefit from the program nor even which schools are benefiting the most, he noted. The present reporting requirements are “really a mess,” he said. The state could also benefit from more academic accountability, such as testing, at schools receiving the money, he said. He added, though, that it might prove difficult to impose such requirements.
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