Georgia lawmakers had the opportunity last week to give parents the financial power to send their children to the school of their choice. But they failed, choosing to preserve their own interests above those of their constituents.
House Bills 999 and 60 would have funded students in Georgia’s education system directly — a necessary departure from the traditional grain of funding public for school districts. The bills’ failure to pass leaves parents and students stuck in their ZIP code.
There was nothing unusual or radical about these bills. One would have set up a voucher program, allocating $6,000 per year per student that parents could then put toward a school or other education expenses as they saw fit. (Georgia spent about $10,800 on each student last year alone).
But in a shocking twist, Georgia Republicans moved to kill this school choice legislation, refusing to hold a vote on it despite its popularity among voters and members of both parties. When pressed for an explanation, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston said he spiked the bill because he was upset that he had been pressured to support it. He pointed to a recent flyer campaign by the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice organization, that urged Georgia voters to contact their representatives about House Bills 999 and 60 and express their support for them.
The flyer in question featured headshots of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President Joe Biden alongside the caption, “The radical left want to cancel your right to choose your child’s school.” Underneath this caption was a picture of a mother reading to her child, which featured another caption encouraging Georgians to tell their representative “to stand up” to anti-school choice politicians such as Abrams.
In the realm of political communications, this flyer appears rather benign. It doesn’t accuse Georgia representatives of any misconduct, nor does it incite any action considered politically inappropriate. The critiques of Abrams, Harris, and Biden ring true. Indeed, the Georgia Education Association endorsed Stacey Abrams for governor because she opposed vouchers and charter schools.
Ralston, however, accused the American Federation for Children of pushing a “deceitful” campaign that amounted to inappropriate “intimidation.”
“These are people we have tried to help over the years, and they turned to attack us viciously,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That voucher legislation will not move at all in the Georgia House of Representatives this year, period.”
What makes Ralston’s juvenile reasoning even worse is the fact that 76% of Georgia K-12 parents supported the bills he killed. And no wonder: COVID-19 school lockdowns and extended periods of remote learning had a catastrophic effect on the academic and social development of Georgia’s students. In DeKalb County alone, nearly half of the students in public schools received failing grades last fall.
Parents have realized that the only way to make sure their children progress and succeed is to remove them from the schools that refuse to help them do either. But Ralston just destroyed the best chance they had at being able to do that.
Perhaps it’s time we ask why. Was Ralston really that offended by a well-meaning flyer campaign? Or was he reluctant to jeopardize his relationship with the anti-school choice teachers unions that have been lining his pockets for years?
Georgia voters have a clear decision in the upcoming elections. The Peach State is primed to separate the wheat from the chaff, and parents aren’t going to wait for comprehensive education reform much longer. They deserve to have options when it comes to their childrens’ education. They deserve better-elected representatives, too.
Tony Kinnett is the executive director of Chalkboard Review, an education publication for teachers with heterodox perspectives. He has bylines in National Review, the Federalist, the Daily Caller, and American Mind. Twitter: @TheTonus.
