by T.A. DeFeo
A bipartisan group of lawmakers made their case for school choice in Georgia, saying parents should have the opportunity to choose better schools for their children.
During this year’s session, Georgia lawmakers killed Senate Bill 233, the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, a measure to create state-funded education savings accounts. Nearly all Democrats and a few Republicans voted against the measure.
It called for taxpayers to cover the cost of scholarships up to $6,500 per student per school year. The proposal would have allowed the families to use the money to defray “qualified” education costs, such as private school tuition.
“There’s a narrative out there that parents and families that are using these choice options are ruining public education,” Rep. Mesha Mainor, D-Atlanta (pictured above), said during a news conference. “…I was fortunate enough where my parents, my grandparents, my family members all felt like education was a value. I have that value myself; I’m instilling that value in my children.”
State Reps. Reynaldo “Rey” Martinez, R-Loganville, and Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, joined Mainor in the press conference.
Mainor said her colleagues offered various explanations when explaining why they voted against the measure. She pointed to an unnamed lawmaker who said they send their child to another school because the local public school performs poorly.
“There’s a legislator that said, ‘I use someone else’s address to send my own child to another school because the school in my district does not perform well,” Mainor said during the news conference. “I said, ‘you are a hypocrite.’ That person knows who they are. I’ll say it to [the lawmaker] again because they’re a hypocrite. You can’t vote no to give a child an opportunity but then do the exact same thing that you don’t want other children to have the opportunity to do. It’s hypocrisy.
“…If people have the nerve to actually stand up and do what their constituents want, [the measure] very well could pass in this next legislative session,” Mainor said.
Last week, the Georgia Center for Opportunity lamented Georgia lawmakers’ missed chance to expand educational opportunities for Peach State students with the failure of SB 233.
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T.A. DeFeo is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Mesha Mainor” by GA General Assembly. Background Photo “Classroom” by MChe Lee.
