Georgia Legislative Watch

Senate Bill 10 has made it’s way out of committee and could receive a floor vote as early as next week:

This year’s most widely debated education bill, which would allow vouchers for special-needs students, could be voted on by the full Senate next week.

Swayed by the argument that parents should be able to choose schools, the Senate Education Committee approved SB 10 by a 5-4 vote Thursday after passionate arguments for and against the bill.

“At the heart of this issue is who makes the decision — the parents or the government?” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), told the committee.

The bill would provide state-funded scholarships so parents could send their special-needs children to either private or public schools outside the districts where they reside.

Opponents raised concerns about diverting state tax money to private schools, including religious schools. They also contended that parents and children would lose some federal protections by leaving public schools; that private school teachers don’t have to meet state qualifications; and that special-needs students could be segregated from regular education students.

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In an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll this month, 61 percent of the respondents said they favored giving students with disabilities scholarships.

Johnson based his bill on a Florida program, and judging from the scholarship’s popularity there, an estimated 4,200 Georgia students would participate, he said.

Johnson said scholarship amounts would vary depending on the severity of the disability, but would probably average a little more than $9,000. The bill lists 11 broad special-needs categories, including autism, learning disability, orthopedic impairment, deafness and blindness.

State scholarship money would be subtracted from the allotments for public school systems and paid to parents of special-needs students, who would pay the contracted schools. Public schools could see some financial benefit, Johnson said, because their special-needs costs could drop.