STEPHEN OWENS: Taxpayer dollars should be spent on public education

On Tuesday, members of the Senate Education and Youth committee voted to advance a private school voucher bill, Senate Bill 601, without accepting public comment. This bill is one of several such proposals to divert public funds away from public schools.

During Reconstruction, black legislators across the South ensured state constitutions included provisions for free schools available to all children. These lawmakers saw public education as an important tool to achieve equality and prosperity. As a result, Georgia’s constitution states that “… an adequate public education for the citizens shall be a primary obligation of the state of Georgia.”

As a part of Fund Georgia’s Future, a coalition of regional, state and local advocacy groups as well as individuals across Georgia who’ve joined to fight for a just education system with full and fair funding, I believe that the only way to realize the future that our Reconstruction-era lawmakers proposed is for Georgia to commit to resisting vouchers and instead commit to public education as our primary obligation.

Georgia politicians first proposed school vouchers in the 1950s to guarantee white parents would not have to send their children to the same school as their black neighbors. In anticipation of Brown v. Board of Education, the General Assembly passed a constitutional amendment to disband public education and provide certain families the equivalent of state funding per child. Fund Georgia’s Future takes this history and the current evidence that vouchers can increase racial segregation as a serious warning against the siren calls for “school choice.”

Further, these vouchers’ ability to financially hamper the public education system that serves 1.7 million students makes them potentially dangerous. A recent analysis of a voucher bill by the nonpartisan Georgia Budget and Policy Institute found that the $6,000 allotted for private educational expenses appeared to prioritize private schools over the public education system that the state is constitutionally mandated to provide.

While Georgia currently spends an average of $5,751 per pupil, this average is heavily weighted by high-needs students, including students with disabilities and English language learners. General education for grades 9-12 is allotted $4,200 — a full $1,800 less than the amount provided in the voucher proposed under House Bill 999 and Senate Bill 601. It would take only 42 high school students to use this policy to deprive the departing public school of $175,000, while simultaneously enriching private schools by $252,000.

Vouchers ensure that those children who remain in public schools have larger class sizes, older facilities and fewer wraparound services. Any “savings” from using local property taxes are a myth considering the inability of school leaders to lower fixed costs such as air conditioning, school buses, and buildings.

The children who use vouchers are no less vulnerable. Taking state funding to a private school through one of these policies requires that they forfeit crucial legal protections. Private schools are not required to follow an Individualized Education Plan — the written plan public schools are obliged to adhere to while teaching students with disabilities. It is for this reason that the National Disability Rights Network and other disability advocates filed a brief in 2019 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a voucher in Wyoming. Further, there is nothing stopping a private school from discriminating against a child’s (or their parents’) sexuality, religion, or language proficiency.

Last year, Georgia sent more than $130 million to private schools through two voucher programs with no record of success. A recent performance audit by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts found that the state’s tax-credit voucher lacked transparency and legislative oversight. The voucher program provides a tax credit to individuals and corporations that donate to pass-through organizations that are used to pay private school tuition.

Among many issues, the audit highlights inadequate controls in place to prevent individuals and corporations from receiving tax subsidies, even if they have not earned them. Further, some voucher-granting organizations regularly failed to report and/or verify legal requirements on how public funds were managed. These structural flaws do not even address the fact that Georgians have no assurances of how students perform — the private schools are not held accountable to state standards or tested to measure performance.

Vouchers in other states are tied to misuse of public dollars as well. In Arizona, the state’s Attorney General audited their voucher system and found “persistent” misuse of funds year after year. Instead of correcting all these issues, House Bill 517, which the Senate is poised to vote on soon, would increase the program cap by $100 million once fully implemented.

I have been encouraged by the recent budget hearings to see strong investments in public education and the people who work directly with our children. Full and fair public education funding is the path to a stronger, more diverse and inclusive state. Private school vouchers such as Senate Bill 601 and House Bill 517 are a relic of the past that must be destroyed so that we build a better future for all Georgians.