ATLANTA — Starting soon, Georgia students are eligible to apply for $6,500 vouchers to pay for private school tuition costs or home-schooling expenses.
The My Georgia Promise site shows applications officially open on March 1.
“It is deeply meaningful to me that, five years after presenting this measure to the Senate, we have come together to support this tailored bill. SB 233 is designed to prioritize families in the decision-making process for their children’s education, offering choice and alternatives for those enrolled in schools that may not adequately serve their needs,” bill sponsor Sen. Greg Dolezal said when the voucher legislation passed.
However, the Associated Press said an “expansive interpretation” by the Georgia Education Savings Authority, which will be running the program starting in 2025 means hundreds of thousands of students could apply to participate in the program.
Georgia Education Savings Authority spokesperson Hayley Corbitt pointed to the language in the law, which says eligibility applies if “the student resides in the attendance zone of a public school that is included on the list,” the AP reported.
That means that students in an attendance zone for a struggling school could apply for a voucher spot even if they don’t attend that school. An example would be an elementary school student applying for a voucher even though their own school is doing well, but the high school they’re zoned for is not.
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Republican Rep. Danny Mathis opposed the bill before its passage due to that interpretation.
“It’s going to dramatically increase the number of students who are eligible,” he said in mid-December.
While applications for the program will open in early 2025, state lawmakers still haven’t fully determined how many vouchers the state can afford to cover.
Current estimates on who the program can afford to serve by the AP put the number at about 22,000 vouchers with a 1% funding formula cap at $144 million. However, the same analysis found that under the GESA’s interpretation, more than 400,000 students could apply.
Leaders in the Georgia House of Representatives have said they’re open to revisiting the provisions to narrow the eligibility, with Speaker Pro-Tem Jan Jones of Milton saying they wanted to “rein” it in to be less broad.
In the meantime, the Georgia Promise Scholarship will open for applicants soon. Any changes that could make their way onto the state’s books would have to pass in the coming legislative session, which begins Jan. 13, 2025.
The law itself will apply to school years starting July 1, 2025.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with the specific date applications for the voucher program open, March 1.
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