A subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on a private school voucher bill today. HB 482, sponsored by Rep. Wes Cantrell (R-Woodstock), a member of the House Education Committee, seeks to create an education savings account that could be used for private school tuition; higher education costs; tutoring by a certified educator; occupational, behavioral, physical, or speech-language therapies; school transportation; or education technology. The amount of public funding allocated to the savings accounts would be equivalent to the state funding which would have been appropriated had students attended public schools. 

Students would qualify for the savings accounts if they spent the prior school year in attendance at a Georgia public school system, if they have been adopted from foster care, have a parent stationed in military active duty, or if the schools for which the students are zoned has received an unacceptable rating for three or more consecutive years. Additionally, students would be eligible if they have one or more of the following disabilities and have an Individual Education Plan: autism, deafness or blindness, emotional behavior disorder, intellectual disability, orthopedic impairment; specific learning disability, speech-language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, or other health impairment.

In his presentation of the bill, which several school choice groups testified in favor of, Cantrell repeatedly stressed that he supports Georgia's public schools and does not intend to hurt them in any way. He explained that he is a pastor at a Woodstock church and a former public school educator in Cobb County. While he was teaching, he started a hybrid school in Woodstock, The Kings Academy . Cantrell explained that he lives in one of the best school districts in the state, Cherokee County, but that students in other parts of the state do not have the same access to great public schools. He said research shows that "public schools actually benefit from education choice programs," because students taking advantage of the vouchers are not performing well in public schools.

• $15 million to provide funds to purchase 194 school buses statewide.
• $86,614,105 for a midterm enrollment adjustment of the Quality Basic Education formula
• $16,367,387 to increase funds for the State Commission Charter School supplement due to the increase in the number of state charter schools
• $1,006,923 reduction for a midterm adjustment of the Special Needs Scholarship

During public comment, representatives from both the Kindezi School and Atlanta Public Schools (APS) informed the committee of an error in QBE allocations. Kindezi grew by 50 percent after APS partnered with them to assist in turnaround efforts for a struggling school in the district. While Kindezi continued to pay out health benefits, they received no reimbursement from the state for the increased healthcare costs for the teachers at the turnaround school and expressed frustration when they did not receive the almost $1 million needed in Gov. Deal's AFY 2018 budget. The committee did not make any changes to the governor's recommendations at this meeting, but ensured the speakers that the committee would follow up with them.