Champions of school choice lost a key fight Wednesday with the tabling of legislation that would have dramatically expanded the state’s limited voucher program.
The move effectively kills for this year the bill that would have allowed most military families, foster children and students with mild to moderate disabilities to use vouchers for school choice, including private schools.
Georgia already gives such vouchers to 2,550 special-needs students under a program started in 2007. Five other states and Washington, D.C., have similar voucher programs for special-needs or low-income students.
School choice advocates wanted to open Georgia’ program to potentially thousands of others and were backing on the clout of the bill’s sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock.
They were working the Capitol halls Wednesday, wearing oversized buttons calling for school choice. Public education lobbyists also were out in force and had local school superintendents ringing lawmakers’ phones in opposition.
Rogers personally asked that Senate Bill 87 be tabled, saying he didn’t have the votes needed for its passage.
“It’s not me that’s losing today,” Rogers said. “The people that are losing in this state are the children, and they’re losing because we’re fighting other adults instead of giving them the options they deserve.”
He pointed out that earlier in the day the Senate spent a lot of time debating and passing a Sunday alcohol sales bill.
“We spent 21/2 hours talking about the freedom of people to purchase beer on Sundays, and the issue that is the most important in this state is education," Rogers said. "We want to ignore the fact that our schools are failing. I’m going to have a hard time defending this one.”
Tim Callahan, a spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, called the Senate’s decision to table Rogers’ bill “great news."
“People want choice, but they don’t think taxpayers should pay for it,” Callahan said.
In committee hearings, the discussion of Rogers’ bill was similar to voucher debates being played out in more than a dozen states.
Supporters argued that vouchers give students other educational opportunities and introduce competition -- and hence potential improvement -- into the public education system.
Opponents argued that the use of public money for private and parochial schools could threaten the very existence of public education and would put tax dollars in the hands of those who don’t have the same rules or accountability as public schools.
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