Last year, Governor Kemp and Republicans passed their school voucher scam to siphon taxpayer money away from public schools and redirect it to unaccountable private entities. The rollout of Kemp’s voucher scam has barely begun, and it’s already a mess.
Reporting last month highlighted the messy, “shaky” rollout of the voucher program. After the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement released a list of “deficient” schools with no explanation or clear criteria, chaos and confusion reigned and GOSA was forced to pull the list down to “ensure accuracy.” Even Republican House Speaker Jon Burns, a Kemp ally, admits that Kemp’s program went too far in making entire school districts eligible for vouchers if one school in the district is deemed failing.
While Kemp and his administration preside over a failed rollout of a failed idea, Georgia Democrats will keep fighting for a high quality, fully funded public school system that works for all students.
Here’s why voucher schemes like Kemp’s are a scam:
- More expensive than public education and have NOT been shown to improve educational outcomes;
- Extremely unpopular with Georgians (60% disapprove);
- Subsidize private institutions that lack proper oversight, regulation, or accountability;
- Redirect money away from schools required to serve all students and siphons to institutions that may exclude students they don’t want to serve;
- Fail rural students who live in areas where there is no feasible private school option;
- Publicly subsidize private education for students who were already going to attend private school without vouchers.
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