Study calls Ga. scholarship law 'failed experiment'
Associated Press
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
ATLANTA - Georgia's law giving tax breaks to people who donate to nonprofits designed to pay for poor children to attend private K-12 schools is a "failed experiment," according to a study released Tuesday.
The Southern Education Foundation study shows there have been multiple violations of the state's "student scholarship organization" law because it doesn't require the reporting of information on the students receiving scholarships or the private schools where they attend. In some cases, students benefiting from the scholarships never actually attended public schools and a few of those students are attending private schools that don't meet the law's accreditation requirements, the study shows.
"This law has failed in every way to provide the general public with any accountability for how tax-diverted funds are spent for an educational purpose," said Steve Suitts, vice president of the foundation. "We recommending that this program be fastly mended or ended." ...
The Atlanta-based Southern Education Foundation is a nonprofit that focuses on improving educational equality in the South. It was founded in 1867.
Georgia lawmakers have touted the law as a way to help low-income children go to private schools and save the state money by freeing up government funding for other children in public schools.
But the law contains no income cap for recipients. The study suggests that Rep. David Casas, a Republican from Lilburn, is promoting the enrollment of private school students in public schools - without having them attend - solely to qualify for the scholarships. ...
The study gives examples of private schools in Barrow, Cobb, Gwinnett, Cherokee, Forsyth, Fulton, Glynn, and Lowndes counties instructing parents how to enroll in public schools so that their children can qualify for the scholarships to actually attend private schools. At least one private school provided the public school enrollment form on their website. ...
Georgia residents can get up to $2,500 in tax breaks annually for donating to one of the organizations. The study shows that $72.1 million in tax breaks have been handed out during the three years of the program, even though the law capped the refunds at $50 million.
So far, 32 student scholarship organizations have been registered with the state, but only one reports information on student recipients, the study shows.
The study comes as school districts across the state grapple with massive budget shortfalls and hand out pink slips to teachers after years of state funding cuts.
Georgia is one of seven states with such scholarship organizations, but it requires the least amount of documentation.
For example, Florida collects the gender, race and income level of students in the program, while Georgia doesn't require any information on scholarship recipients and is the only state that doesn't have an income cap for recipients. ...
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