Latest news with #GeorgiaPromiseScholarship
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Georgia Promise Scholarship: Applications now open for new school voucher program
Applications are now open for Georgia's new school voucher program. The Georgia Promise Scholarship will give up to $6,500 a year to some families to pay for private school tuition, home-school expenses or other education related expenses. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the law last year. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] On Saturday, the Georgia Student Finance Commission started to accept applications. More than 3,000 applications have been submitted as of Tuesday, according to the office. The first window will be open until 2025. There are several requirements that a family must meet for their student to be eligible. A student must attend a school on the state's low performing list and must have attended the public school for at least two consecutive semesters or is entering kindergarten. The parent or parents must have been a Georgia resident for at least a year unless they are on active duty in the military. The law also states that priority goes to families who earn less than four times the federal poverty level. You can click here for more details on the requirements. The school voucher program has been met with mixed reaction since its approval. There was also confusion over which schools were in the bottom 25% after the list was taken down multiple times before it was republished in February. RELATED STORIES: Georgia republishes list of low-performing schools eligible for voucher program Georgia $6,500 school vouchers: What to know about the bill heading to Gov. Kemp's desk Georgia moves forward in creating voucher program for private and home schools [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Applications for new Georgia Promise Scholarship now open
ATLANTA - The first application period for the Georgia Promise Scholarship opened this weekend and those leading the new initiative say thousands of families have already applied. What we know "Over the weekend, over 2,000 successfully completed an application on the platform," said Lynne Riley, the president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission. Riley oversees the rollout of the Georgia Promise Scholarship program. The application period began on Saturday and will be open until April 15. The program allows families with students who attend a school that has been identified by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement as "underperforming" to get $6,500 to put towards private school tuition or other alternatives to public school. The agency released a list of around 400 schools that are eligible for the program. Riley says with the funding that's been allotted by the legislature so far, they can accept up to 22,000 students. "The program will prioritize families from lower income levels. When we do a final determination of eligibility, should we have more applicants than there are places available in the program, the first priority goes to low-income families. We're trying to help families that have been put in a situation where they have no choice for the best school for their children, to be able to utilize these funds to find that best choice," she said. The other side Opponents of the program say it's going to do more harm than good. "It's not a scholarship. It is a voucher," said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators. RELATED: Georgia school voucher program expanded to more students by new agency She says taking funds away from public schools for a minority of students will negatively impact the majority of students still attending the public schools. "We are not providing our students the resources they need to be successful in our public schools. Instead, we want to take a small minority to go to a private school," Morgan said. When asked about taking money away from these public schools, this is what Riley had to say: "It would otherwise be spent on the students at that public school. It's merely taking the money and allowing it to follow the child," Riley said. Dig deeper Morgan says she believes this may even lead to more school closures. "Our concern is that the schools are going to be closing because there is going to be less funding and less resources available for those schools," she said. FOX 5 asked Riley about the possibility of schools closing because of this. "I really don't have an answer to that … we believe that the ability for a child and their family to choose their destiny is going to be the best use of the public dollars available to them," Riley said. Riley says the dollars can also go to help families homeschool their children. "They can invest in technology, curriculum, and materials. They can provide for tutoring services for a child that is homeschooled," she said. But Morgan says they believe that there won't be enough accountability for how those funds are spent. "So it does set up some potential for fraud and abuse within the program," Morgan said. Riley says one way they'll try to curb that is by creating a central place where families can spend those dollars. "That marketplace will have specific selections that have been pre-approved for uses of the Promise Scholarship," Riley said. What's next Some Democratic State Lawmakers have filed a bill to repeal the Promise Scholarship, citing concerns it will "destabilize" Georgia's public school system. "Over 90% of the children in our state attend our public schools. So we believe we should be focused on solutions to provide the resources, the funding necessary for all our students who are attending our public schools," Morgan said. But she said those efforts don't seem to be gaining enough traction. "There have been multiple bills filed to repeal this system. We don't think that they are going to move forward," Morgan said. Riley says regardless of any efforts to repeal it, the strong start to the application period is a good sign. "We are fully invested in the delivery of this program, and we're excited at the initial appetite. We anticipate that it's only going to grow, and we will be optimistically enrolling just under 22,000 students in July," Riley said. What you can do If you want to see if your child may be eligible for the voucher program, Riley says you can visit and use the pre-screening tool to see if you qualify. The Source Information for this story was provided by the Georgia Student Finance Commission, the Georgia Association of Educators, and from previous FOX 5 reports.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Senate Bill 233 and the Georgia Promise Act means for those in Richmond County
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Applications are now open for the Georgia Promise Scholarship which helps families of students at underperforming schools afford private school tuition or home school. This gives eligible families $6,500 for private school tuition or home school expenses. 'The money goes to the parent to use it for whatever purpose they want to use it as it relates to that child's education,' State Rep. Karlton Howard said. The Governor's Office of Student Achievement released a list last month of public schools that qualify for new vouchers — which were created by the State Legislature last year. 'It passed last year; it was designed to help 21,000 students in Georgia. But there was some semantics in the language that were challenged in court, and as it turns out, now there are 400,000 students that qualify for the same funds,' Rep. Howard said. Those students are from schools that are in the lowest 25th percentile– calculated by the College and Career Ready Performance Index individual scores from previous school years. And it includes dozens of Richmond County Schools. 'Of the state average scores, then that school qualifies– any student at that school qualifies for the $6,500 dollar scholarship. But they're– again like I said– but the issue became, now if there is only one school in the school system that is a failing school in the lower 25 percentile, the whole system qualifies,' Rep. Howard said. He also says he believes this could make it hard for public schools– especially some in Richmond County. 'That QBE Formula has not been addressed or modified in over 40 years– about 40 years. Which means schools are not being funded properly, first of all, and if they're properly funded, I think we can do better. Teachers need more pay, there need to be more facilities up to date, they need to have more security. And there's a lot more they can do if they had more funding.' If your student attends one of the schools on the list – you can submit an application for the Georgia Promise Scholarship by the April deadline. To find out if your student is eligible just visit. If you would like to learn more about Senate Bill 233: Georgia Promise Scholarship Public School List Calculation To view the list of eligible schools visit: Georgia Promise Scholarship Public School For further information visit: Georgia Promise Scholarship Public School List Richmond County School System Interim Superintendent Dr. Malinda Cobb says, Monday, in a statement: 'We strongly believe that our schools have outstanding educators and students who have grown greatly over the past few years. We've achieved historic increases in our graduation rate, had several schools exit federal improvement lists, and released information about CCRPI that shows widespread improvement across elementary, middle, and high schools for all measured components in career and college readiness for the third year in a row. We've made great strides and understand that we have more progress to make in closing gaps.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Governor's office releases revised list of ‘low-performing schools' in GA
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) released their updated list of schools in the state that are considered 'low performing' this month. This means that anyone zoned for those schools is eligible to receive the Georgia Promise Scholarship, a grant for private school tuition. The updated list includes several schools in the Savannah Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS). 'They calculated the lowest performing schools based on the lowest 25 percentile,' Chief Academic Officer for SCCPSS, Derrick Butler, said. When the list was initially released, the district said they were still working to determine how that many schools ended up on the low end of the list. There have been several versions of the list since it was initially published. 'We're all grappling to understand every time a list goes up and comes back down, it creates more ambiguity, more confusion. That's why we need to go through this for a year to figure out what it means and what the implications would be,' SCCPSS Superintendent Denise Watts, Ph.D., said in December 2024. A revised list came out this month, and in Chatham County, all the same schools are still on the list, with the stipulation that one of the schools on the list is now closed. 'These are not necessarily new data points for us. I think what was new was how the governor's office would calculate,' Butler said. 'The calculation essentially has taken what was a more comprehensive picture around content mastery, progress, readiness, graduation rate, attendance, literacy, and has created a single score to create the lowest 25 percentile list.' SCCPSS officials said they don't necessarily believe the list is representative of the entire picture when it comes to their students. 'Our students are more than just a number, more than just a cut score. Our teachers are more than just someone who educated students and it may not have gotten to that bar yet,' SCCPSS Chief of Schools, Raymond Barnes, Ph.D., said. Some schools in Chatham County have exceeded GOSA's standards, but for those who haven't, officials with the school system said they are working to lift them up. 'Many of those schools that may be on the list as well receive additional funding to help enhance some of the supports based on specific needs,' Butler said. Barnes said, 'We want to make sure that we make every school in our school district a school of choice for our students, right? We 100% believe that parents and students should have choice and free reign over their education. We just want to make sure we are offering a product that all of our families say is a great choice for my child.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Should Georgia Promise Scholarship Act be repealed, expanded? Democrats, Republicans clash
The Brief Rep. Floyd Griffin (D-Milledgeville) is sponsoring House Bill 436, which would repeal the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act. More than 400 public schools statewide are eligible for the school voucher program, which provides a scholarship of $6,500 to pay for private school tuition or home school expenses. Critics say it does more harm than good. Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to expand the program. ATLANTA - Some parents of Georgia school children who attend low performing public schools in Georgia will soon begin applying for school vouchers to help them pay for private school. A Democratic state lawmaker wants to repeal the law. Senate Republicans want to expand the program. What we know The Georgia Promise Scholarship is a program that provides a school voucher worth $6,500 to the families of children who attend underperforming public schools in Georgia. State officials released a list of more than 400 eligible schools, including more than 30 Atlanta Public Schools, more than 40 schools in DeKalb County, 22 in Clayton County, 16 in Gwinnett County, 9 in Fulton County and 8 in Cobb County. RELATED: School list released for Georgia Promise Scholarship program Big picture view State Rep. Floyd Griffin (D-Milledgeville) is sponsoring House Bill 436. HB 436 would repeal the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which was signed into law last year. Critics say the program has been fraught with delays and unforeseen challenges, and disproportionately affects children in rural and urban school districts who can't afford private school, and lack transportation. What they're saying "Why should we be funding private schools? It's only going to help those individuals who can pay the additional funds to go to school," Rep. Griffin told reporters Tuesday. The other side Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Republicans in the Senate want to expand the program. State Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming) has introduced Senate Bill 152, which would expand eligibility for the Georgia Promise Scholarship to biological and adoptive children of foster parents. "We worked very hard to create opportunities for children and parents in this state," Jones told FOX 5. "If you are in a failing public school system you ought to be able to, to be given the opportunity to, take a voucher and find a place that's more suited for your child." The Source FOX 5 Atlanta Deidra Dukes spoke to Rep. Floyd Griffin (D-Milledgeville), Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming) about the program, House Bill 436 and Senate Bill 152.
