SB 10 -Still Alive and Kicking

Today's House Education Committee meeting was once again full of debate and questions on SB 10. There were several Senate bills up for discussion but Chairman Brooks Coleman made it clear they would not be taking a vote on any bills today in full committee. New amendments to the SB 10 were made before the meeting, and it is likely more amendments will be made before the bill goes to a vote. The vote on SB 10 in committee will be either April 11 or 12. From there it goes to the House floor for a final vote.

To introduce the discussion on SB 10,Patricia Levess, Executive Director of the The Foundation for Florida's Future , gave a short presentation on the McKay scholarship and answered questions from legislators for about 45 minutes. Senator Eric Johnson and Representative David Casas took questions for another 30 minutes. Questions from legislators were thoughtful and addressed issues like tracking academic progress in private schools, the need for re-evaluation, keeping the choice to private schools within the state only, how this effects homeschoolers and children already in private schools, and teacher certification.

Representative Casas said that the GA DOE and the Georgia Association of Superintendents gave input for the new changes to the bill. Those changes include increasing the time that is required for residency to participate and a pre and post assessment for each child . If passed,SB 10 would go into effect for the 07-08 school year, and if your child is already in private school you would have to re-enroll in public school for one semester and have a valid IEP done to be able to take advantage of the program. I will keep you updated as we get news of newer ammendments.

When asked about if this could possibly lead to a larger voucher program in the future, Senator Johnson said, " I do not believe there is support in the Georgia legislature any time soon for a statewide voucher system."