ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate passed legislation Tuesday aimed at expanding the number of students with special needs in Georgia who could qualify for scholarships to help them attend private schools.
Critics frame the measure, Senate Bill 386, as a voucher program likely to funnel state funds from needy rural schools and give families with more financial means a leg up to enroll their children in private schools.
Since 2007, Georgia students with physical or mental disabilities who have specialized education plans have been able to qualify for state-funded scholarships to help offset the costs of tuition and transferring to a private school.
Last year, nearly 5,000 students received scholarships averaging around $6,300 per student to enroll in private schools at a total cost to the state of roughly $33 million, according to the Georgia Department of Education.
Senate Bill 386, sponsored by Sen. Renee Unterman, would allow children who have accommodation plans, called “504 plans,” under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act to also qualify for the special-needs scholarship, along with students who have individualized education plans.
Students would still have to attend a year of public school before they could take advantage of the scholarship, unless they received special-education services in preschool, were adopted or are in foster care.
Unterman, R-Buford, said the changes proposed in her bill would give many students with special needs and their families more choice over where they could attend school.
“It’s not a cookie-cutter school system,” Unterman said. “There are people and families that operate outside the box.”
The bill passed by a 33-22 vote that fell along party lines. It now goes to the Georgia House of Representatives.
Several Democratic senators criticized the bill as a possible backdoor largely for wealthy families who can afford to pay the medical costs involved in getting a doctor’s diagnosis of a condition that would qualify for a federal accommodation plan. They also argued wealthier parents could more easily cover the private-school tuition costs beyond what the limited state scholarship would fund.
Those factors could give families in metro Atlanta an advantage to secure scholarship funds over families in rural parts of the state with fewer financial means, said Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta. She also pointed out the bill could allow students with behavioral conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to qualify for the scholarship.
“We are sending the message that we care a lot more about the education of wealthy families in metro Atlanta than we do about everyone else,” Parent said.
Others questioned how much more the state would end up paying with the expanded special-needs criteria. A fiscal note attached to the bill estimates between 2,800 and 8,600 more students may start receiving the scholarship, costing the state between $9.5 million and $28.5 million annually.
Senate Education Committee Chairman P.K. Martin said the bill was tightened in committee to narrowly tailor scholarship qualifications to more severe permanent physical and mental ailments than the federal 504 plans may cover. He said the tighter criteria should curb potential runaway costs.
“There’s not going to be a run on vouchers if we pass this bill,” said Martin, R-Lawrenceville.