Georgia school voucher bill narrowly clears longtime obstacle with state House passage
9 months, 1 week ago

Georgia school voucher bill narrowly clears longtime obstacle with state House passage

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia Republicans powered a voucher plan funding private school tuition and home schooling through the state House on Thursday, nearing a goal that has long eluded the state’s school choice advocates as GOP leaders overcame longstanding skepticism from some rural members of their party The House voted 91-82 for Senate Bill 233, passing it with one vote to spare. The bill would provide $6,500 education savings accounts to students attending public schools that rank in Georgia’s bottom 25% for academic achievement. But opponents argue it would subtract resources from public schools, with school districts losing state aid as children depart, even as other students will remain behind. Other parts of the revamped bill include writing current teacher pay raises into Georgia’s K-12 school funding formula, letting public school prekindergarten programs qualify for state aid to construct and furnish buildings, letting students enroll in other public school districts that will accept them and increasing tax credits for donations to public schools.

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History of this topic

Georgia makes many more students than expected eligible for school vouchers
1 week, 5 days ago

Georgia makes many more students than expected eligible for school vouchers

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Hundreds of thousands of students in Georgia will be eligible for $6,500 vouchers to pay for private school tuition or home-schooling expenses — far more than many legislators expected — under an expansive interpretation of the law by the new agency running the program. But the Georgia Education Savings Authority, a body created by the law, wrote rules …

Georgia moves forward in creating voucher program for private and home schools
1 month ago

Georgia moves forward in creating voucher program for private and home schools

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — A new Georgia program that will give up to $6,500 a year to some families to pay for private school tuition or home-schooling expenses will begin accepting applications in early 2025, but lawmakers must still determine how many vouchers the state will pay for. The law provides $6,500 education savings accounts to students zoned for any public school …

North Carolina GOP leaders reach spending deal to clear private school voucher waitlist
3 months, 2 weeks ago

North Carolina GOP leaders reach spending deal to clear private school voucher waitlist

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s Republican House and Senate leaders said Friday that they have agreed with each other on a supplemental spending proposal that includes hundreds of millions of dollars to eliminate the state’s waitlist for private school vouchers. The proposal sets aside an additional $463 million for this school year and next for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program …

Families rally to urge North Carolina lawmakers to fully fund private-school vouchers
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Families rally to urge North Carolina lawmakers to fully fund private-school vouchers

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — Dozens of North Carolina parents held a rally on Wednesday to urge Republican legislators to fully fund scholarships for children to attend private and religious schools after lawmakers failed to work out an agreement earlier this year to meet the program’s soaring demand. Senate leader Phil Berger also met with the advocates and expressed his support but …

Ample signatures collected for referendum to repeal private school funding law, organizers say
5 months, 1 week ago

Ample signatures collected for referendum to repeal private school funding law, organizers say

Associated Press  

— Public school advocates say they have enough signatures to ask Nebraska voters in November to repeal a law that provides taxpayer money for private school tuition, marking the latest twist in a long-running fight with state lawmakers who have repeatedly opposed efforts to let voters weigh in on the public funding plan. “Nebraskans deserve the opportunity to vote on …

North Carolina Senate OKs $500 million for private school vouchers, student accounts
7 months, 3 weeks ago

North Carolina Senate OKs $500 million for private school vouchers, student accounts

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Senate Republicans pushed legislation through their chamber Thursday to set aside roughly $500 million more for now for programs that provide taxpayer money to help K-12 students attend private schools and eliminate their waiting lists. During Thursday’s hour-long floor debate on the issue, Senate Democrats argued it was unfair for the wealthiest families to receive …

North Carolina Republicans seek hundreds of millions of dollars more for school vouchers
7 months, 3 weeks ago

North Carolina Republicans seek hundreds of millions of dollars more for school vouchers

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — Addressing a sharp increase in private-school grant applications, North Carolina Republicans advanced legislation on Wednesday to spend hundreds of millions of dollars now to eliminate a large waiting list this fall for Opportunity Scholarships and to permanently meet expected higher demand. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted for legislation that would spend another $248 million in the coming …

$6,500 school vouchers coming to Georgia as bill gets final passage and heads to governor
8 months ago

$6,500 school vouchers coming to Georgia as bill gets final passage and heads to governor

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Proclaiming that “education is truly the great equalizer,” Gov Brian Kemp signed a law on Tuesday that will give up to $6,500 a year to some Georgia families to pay for private school tuition or home-schooling expenses. Kemp portrayed Senate Bill 233, the Georgia Promise Scholarship, as part of an “all of the above” strategy that also supports …

The push for school choice in Nebraska is pitting lawmakers against their constituents
8 months, 1 week ago

The push for school choice in Nebraska is pitting lawmakers against their constituents

Associated Press  

— Nebraska lawmakers are set for the first time to pass a bill that would block the public from voting on a ballot measure initiated by citizens of the state, setting up what could be a long battle over whether to fund private school tuition with public dollars. Lawmakers often refer to the state’s residents as “the Nebraska Legislature’s second …

South Carolina House votes to expand voucher program. It’s fate in Senate is less clear
9 months ago

South Carolina House votes to expand voucher program. It’s fate in Senate is less clear

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Republicans in the South Carolina House gave key approval Wednesday to a bill expanding a program allowing parents to spend taxpayer money on private and home-school education even as a pilot plan is just starting and the state’s highest court is considering whether it is legal. “We can support our public school and our public school teachers, …

$6,500 school vouchers coming to Georgia as bill gets final passage and heads to governor
9 months ago

$6,500 school vouchers coming to Georgia as bill gets final passage and heads to governor

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia senators gave final approval Wednesday to a plan to create a $6,500 voucher funding for private school tuition and home schooling, sending the measure to Gov. The bill would provide $6,500 education savings accounts to students attending public schools that rank in Georgia’s bottom 25% for academic achievement. They also say private schools don’t have to accept …

Georgia House speaker aims to persuade resistant Republicans in voucher push
9 months, 1 week ago

Georgia House speaker aims to persuade resistant Republicans in voucher push

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns is leaning into the push to pass a voucher plan funding private school tuition and home schooling, looking to change the minds of fellow Republican skeptics. The bill would provide $6,500 education savings accounts to students attending public schools that rank in Georgia’s bottom 25% for academic achievement. Those include writing current teacher …

Alabama lawmakers have approved a school choice program
9 months, 2 weeks ago

Alabama lawmakers have approved a school choice program

Associated Press  

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday signed legislation creating a program similar to school vouchers that would provide eligible families with as much as $7,000 to help pay for private school and $2,000 for homeschooling expenses. The state, he added, should “focus on the students and not so much institutions.” The legislation will allow eligible families to …

$5.5 billion in new Georgia spending will pay for employee bonuses, state Capitol overhaul
9 months, 3 weeks ago

$5.5 billion in new Georgia spending will pay for employee bonuses, state Capitol overhaul

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia will boost spending by nearly $5.5 billion in the remaining three months of its current budget, providing money to boost roadbuilding, build a new legislative office building and overhaul the state Capitol and pay for $1,000 bonuses already sent to state employees and teachers. The state can spend lots more, even though growth in tax collections is …

School voucher ideas expose deep GOP divisions in Tennessee Legislature
9 months, 3 weeks ago

School voucher ideas expose deep GOP divisions in Tennessee Legislature

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With a supermajority grip over the Tennessee Statehouse, there are very few things Republicans can’t push through even with the harshest of criticism and public opposition. Yet, after weeks of working behind closed doors on a sweeping school voucher plan that would give coveted public dollars to many more families to spend on private schools, deep divisions …

Tennessee governor pitches school voucher expansion as state revenues stagnate
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Tennessee governor pitches school voucher expansion as state revenues stagnate

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly five years after narrowly convincing lawmakers to allow a select number of families to use tax dollars for private schooling, Tennessee Gov. Lee maintains that the state still has enough money to spread around more school vouchers to families, properly fund public schools, distribute pay raises to state employees and even set aside more money for …

Georgia leaders propose $11.3M to improve reading as some lawmakers seek a more aggressive approach
11 months, 1 week ago

Georgia leaders propose $11.3M to improve reading as some lawmakers seek a more aggressive approach

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia education officials want to provide literacy coaches to help train teachers to improve reading instruction, even as some prominent lawmakers say the state Department of Education isn’t doing enough to implement a literacy law passed last year. Georgia’s effort to help children read better is one example of many nationwide as the “science of reading” shakes up …

Pay raises and higher education spending headline Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed budget in Georgia
11 months, 1 week ago

Pay raises and higher education spending headline Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed budget in Georgia

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — After years of holding spending far below what Georgia was collecting in revenue, Gov. In the 2025 budget beginning July 1, Kemp proposes increasing spending by $3.6 billion over this year’s original budget, including pay raises for more than 300,000 state employees and teachers that he outlined in his State of the State speech. Overall Georgia would spend …

Some Georgia Republicans who sank an education voucher bill in 2023 aren’t changing their minds
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Some Georgia Republicans who sank an education voucher bill in 2023 aren’t changing their minds

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — On the last day of Georgia’s 2023 legislative session, 16 mostly rural House Republicans defied pressure from Gov. “I’m just not ready to give up on public education as we know it right now,” said Rep. J. Collins of Villa Rica, who added that “taking away money from public education is not the answer.” The Georgia push is …

Georgia’s governor says the state will pay a $1,000 year-end bonus to public and school employees
1 year ago

Georgia’s governor says the state will pay a $1,000 year-end bonus to public and school employees

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia’s government will put a little extra jingle in the pockets of state, university and public school employees, paying them a $1,000 year-end bonus, Gov. The Republican governor also said he would propose a permanent $104 million yearly allocation for school security going forward, enough to provide $45,000 to every Georgia public school, as he makes further plans …

Tennessee governor unveils push for statewide school voucher expansion, no income limitations
1 year ago

Tennessee governor unveils push for statewide school voucher expansion, no income limitations

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday backed a plan to expand beyond a three-county school voucher program for low-income kids by offering public money for private schooling statewide, regardless of family income. The current program awards eligible families around $8,100 in public tax dollars to help cover private school tuition and other preapproved expenses for up to …

Shapiro says unfinished business includes vouchers, more school funding and higher minimum wage
1 year, 1 month ago

Shapiro says unfinished business includes vouchers, more school funding and higher minimum wage

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday that his list of unfinished business for the state Legislature includes passing a private school voucher program, increasing the minimum wage and approving bills to curb gun violence. “I consider this to be unfinished business, along with making sure we raise the minimum wage, along with passing statute of limitations reform, …

Teachers’ advocates challenge private school voucher program in South Carolina
1 year, 1 month ago

Teachers’ advocates challenge private school voucher program in South Carolina

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A group of South Carolina parents and teachers’ advocates filed a challenge Thursday to a new Republican-backed law allowing taxpayer dollars to help families pay for private schools. The South Carolina Education Association and state chapter of the NAACP want the state’s highest court to toss out the program that they said runs afoul of a prohibition …

Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states
1 year, 1 month ago

Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states

Associated Press  

In some states, higher-income families can now use taxpayer money to cover private school tuition -- and more people than projected are taking the offer, which might force scrambles to shore up state budgets. It’s especially an issue in states like Arizona and Iowa, where at least some families whose children were already in private school can now take advantage …

Opponents of Nebraska plan to use public money for private school tuition seek ballot initiative
1 year, 3 months ago

Opponents of Nebraska plan to use public money for private school tuition seek ballot initiative

Associated Press  

Organizers of an effort to have Nebraska voters weigh in on whether to use taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition scholarships said Wednesday they have more than enough signatures to put that question on the November 2024 ballot. “This wildly successful petition effort has shown that Nebraskans agree.” The effort was launched even before Nebraska lawmakers passed a …

Proposals would bring dramatic change to Ohio’s voucher program
1 year, 6 months ago

Proposals would bring dramatic change to Ohio’s voucher program

Associated Press  

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio parents could soon see more taxpayer money in their pockets to help send their schoolchildren to private and religious schools, or fund homeschooling, under changes to a voucher program that Republican state lawmakers and the governor must hammer out by month’s end. Dubbed “backpack bills” because the funding follows students wherever they go, both legislative proposals …

Nebraska passes law on taxpayer money going to private schools
1 year, 6 months ago

Nebraska passes law on taxpayer money going to private schools

Associated Press  

— Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that will channel public money to scholarships for private school tuition, despite critics who say the measure hurts public schools, benefits wealthy taxpayers and helps mostly parochial schools that can discriminate against LGBTQ+ students. Public school advocates have blasted the measure as a “school voucher scheme” that will hurt the state’s K-12 public …

Large private school voucher expansion voted for by both North Carolina legislative chambers
1 year, 7 months ago

Large private school voucher expansion voted for by both North Carolina legislative chambers

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — Families at any income level — not just the poor and the middle class — could receive North Carolina taxpayer funds for their children to attend K-12 private schools under legislation getting formal support Wednesday with votes in both chambers. Rep. Julie von Haefen, a Wake County Democrat opposed to the program, said eliminating the income standards …

South Carolina governor signs private school voucher bill
1 year, 7 months ago

South Carolina governor signs private school voucher bill

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s governor signed a bill into law Thursday that will eventually allow up to 15,000 students in the state to use public money for private schools. Within three years, the eligibility is to be capped at 15,000 students, or about 2% of South Carolina’s school age population, for families making around $120,000 or less. Republican South …

Perdue: Georgia universities might recoup $66M budget cut
1 year, 8 months ago

Perdue: Georgia universities might recoup $66M budget cut

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — As Georgia’s public universities mull whether to raise tuition, Chancellor Sonny Perdue says he hopes state lawmakers will restore the $66 million they cut from the system’s teaching budget when they return next year. “I’m encouraged by the fact that we think that will be restored as we come into the amended budget,” Perdue told regents Wednesday during …

Kemp signs bills aiming to improve school safety, literacy
1 year, 8 months ago

Kemp signs bills aiming to improve school safety, literacy

Associated Press  

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Gov. Brian Kemp signed new laws Thursday that will require Georgia schools to perform annual drills for responding to campus shooters early in the school year and to perform literacy assessments for younger students three times per year to see if they can read at grade level. He said his safety bill “modernizes school safety protocols and …

Georgia’s Kemp vetoes bill capping university tuition hikes
1 year, 8 months ago

Georgia’s Kemp vetoes bill capping university tuition hikes

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Senators amended House Bill 319 on the final day of the legislative session to say that none of the University System of Georgia’s 26 universities and colleges could raise tuition or fees by more than 3% from the previous year without approval from both houses of the General Assembly. “The Georgia Constitution makes plain the authority …

Georgia budget to pay full tuition for college scholarships
1 year, 8 months ago

Georgia budget to pay full tuition for college scholarships

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are agreeing to a state budget that will pay full tuition for all college students receiving a HOPE Scholarship while boosting pay for all state and university employees and public school teachers. Brian Kemp’s plans to pay full tuition for everyone receiving a HOPE college scholarship and to give all state employees and public school teachers …

Georgia House GOP members break ranks to doom voucher bill
1 year, 8 months ago

Georgia House GOP members break ranks to doom voucher bill

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Rural Georgia Republicans defied lobbying from Gov. Brian Kemp and conservative groups on Wednesday to vote down a proposed state voucher plan funding private school tuition and home schooling. But don’t pretend that it will benefit them and don’t pretend that it won’t cost a lot of money, and don’t pretend that we can afford it.” Supporters argued …

DeSantis signs bill expanding school voucher program
1 year, 8 months ago

DeSantis signs bill expanding school voucher program

Associated Press  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. “There will be a preference for low and middle income families but at the end of the day we fundamentally believe that the money should follow the student and it should be directed based on what the parent thinks is the most appropriate education program for their child,” DeSantis said at a bill signing ceremony …

Public money for private school tuition bill advances
1 year, 9 months ago

Public money for private school tuition bill advances

Associated Press  

— Nebraska could join 48 other states in offering public money for private school tuition under a bill advanced by the state Legislature on Wednesday, even as some lawmakers expressed concern about taxpayer dollars going to private schools allowed to turn away students based on religious tenets. Rather than appropriating taxpayer dollars directly toward private school vouchers, the bill would …

Deal on amending Georgia budget includes property tax breaks
1 year, 9 months ago

Deal on amending Georgia budget includes property tax breaks

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers have given final approval to amendments to this year’s budget that raise spending by $2.4 billion and include money for a property tax break. It includes $950 million for property tax rebates to homeowners and would divert $1.1 billion in state revenue to the Department of Transportation to make up for fuel tax revenue that the …

Georgia senators seek shorter school health cost phase-in
1 year, 10 months ago

Georgia senators seek shorter school health cost phase-in

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia senators want to spend less on subsidizing local school district health costs than the House, seeking a more rapid phase-in of a big health insurance premium increase that districts would pay. The House proposed giving the benefit plan another $100 million in state money and stretching the premium increase over three years. House lawmakers had proposed spending …

Georgia’s Kemp emphasizes crime-fighting efforts in speech
1 year, 10 months ago

Georgia’s Kemp emphasizes crime-fighting efforts in speech

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. So for the Georgians of today and tomorrow, let’s get it done.” Democrats countered Wednesday with an agenda that calls for a $15 state minimum wage, much larger pay increases for public employees, more education spending on poor students, a tightening of state gun laws, an expansion of abortion rights and an expansion of Medicaid health …

Iowa lawmakers OK public money for private school students
1 year, 10 months ago

Iowa lawmakers OK public money for private school students

Associated Press  

DES MOINES, Iowa — Any Iowa student who wants to attend a private school could use public money to pay for tuition or other expenses under a plan passed Tuesday by the Legislature and quickly signed into law by Gov. During debate Monday night, Rep. Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, said Democrats were overstating what the private school funding …

Florida House speaker wants to expand school voucher program
1 year, 11 months ago

Florida House speaker wants to expand school voucher program

Associated Press  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida would make every student eligible for vouchers to attend private school with taxpayer money under proposed legislation House Speaker Paul Renner said Thursday will be a priority for the session that begins in March. The bill could greatly expand the state’s current voucher programs, but would give priority to low-income and special needs students ahead of …

Tax money for students for private school on SC Senate floor
1 year, 11 months ago

Tax money for students for private school on SC Senate floor

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina senators said a bill that would give some less well off parents and guardians up to $6,000 a year for private school tuition will be the first thing they debate in the 2023 session. Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey told members the bill will come up for debate Tuesday on the Senate floor. The …

New Arizona governor wants to undo school voucher expansion
1 year, 11 months ago

New Arizona governor wants to undo school voucher expansion

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs wants to undo a massive expansion of a school voucher program championed last year by her GOP predecessor and other Republicans that lets students apply to use public money for private-school tuition and other education costs. In releasing its budget proposals Friday, the governor’s office said the expansion is siphoning money from underfunded …

Tennessee judges uphold contentious school voucher law
2 years ago

Tennessee judges uphold contentious school voucher law

Associated Press  

A Tennessee judicial panel has upheld the state’s school voucher law, which allows public tax dollars to be given to families to pay for private schooling. Critics of vouchers argue that the law will weaken the state’s public education system, but the three-judge panel said counties and families who sued couldn’t prove how students would be immediately harmed by the …

Private school vouchers open faith options for kids of color
2 years, 1 month ago

Private school vouchers open faith options for kids of color

Associated Press  

MILWAUKEE — On break in the hallway between St. Marcus Lutheran Church and its attached school, eighth grader Annii Kinepoway had no hesitation in explaining what she’s learned to love best here — the good Lord and good grades. “I was looking for a school that would help me.” St. Anthony is one of the country’s largest Catholic schools – …

Foes of Arizona school vouchers file to block huge expansion
2 years, 3 months ago

Foes of Arizona school vouchers file to block huge expansion

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Public school advocates who oppose a massive expansion of Arizona’s private school voucher system enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. “But we have enough that we feel confident that with the validity of our signatures we can turn in and get through the processing and get it on the ballot.” Voucher opponents …

Arizona governor touts school voucher plan, slams opponents
2 years, 4 months ago

Arizona governor touts school voucher plan, slams opponents

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and backers of universal school vouchers took a victory lap Tuesday over legislation the Republican-controlled Legislature enacted in June giving the state the nation’s most expansive voucher system, and he also used the time to attack backers of public schools who are trying to block the measure at the ballot. “There’s no one-size …

Tennessee gov: School voucher program to start immediately
2 years, 5 months ago

Tennessee gov: School voucher program to start immediately

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Just hours prior to Lee’s announcement the voucher program would be implemented this year, the state’s attorneys told a panel of judges that “decisions haven’t been made.” Stephanie Bergmeyer of the attorney general’s office said that some of the deadlines would be based on the participating schools and when they would require a student to …

Arizona OKs biggest US school voucher plan, faces challenge
2 years, 5 months ago

Arizona OKs biggest US school voucher plan, faces challenge

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Republican Gov. The expansion Ducey signed will let every parent in Arizona take public money now sent to the K-12 public school system and use it to pay for their children’s private school tuition or other education costs. “Our network of volunteers across the state are pumped and ready.” Lewis and other public school advocates say vouchers take …

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