SB 233, sponsored by Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), has passed the Senate and is expected to be considered by the House as soon as today or early next week. The bill would create a new type of private school voucher—an Education Savings Account, or ESA—that would send $6,500 to each participating student, every year. PAGE has been consistently advocating against SB 233 since it was introduced. To learn more about why this bill and the program it would create is wrong for Georgia’s students, teachers, and taxpayers, read the PAGE SB 233 analysis here.


Using PAGE best practices and the Open States link below, contact your House of Representatives members now and ask him or her to vote NO on SB 233. Georgia educators, students, and taxpayers want Georgia elected officials to stand up for fiscal transparency, academic accountability, and Georgia public schools.

The ESA voucher program would join the state’s two existing voucher programs, which carry a combined price tag of about $150 million annually. High-quality evaluations of voucher programs found voucher students did worse academically than students in public schools.

SB 233 is expected to damage state investment in all public schools and the children, families, and communities they serve by redirecting more public funding to private schools in metro areas. Almost 1.7 million Georgia students attend public school. Private schools are concentrated in metro areas, and their tuition averages more than $11,000, annually. More than 40 Georgia counties have no private school. Learn more about challenges that interfere with student learning and academic success and how SB 233 would exacerbate these challenges, in the PAGE rural Georgia case study.

Schools in every region of Georgia badly require investment in literacy instruction, high-speed internet infrastructure, pupil transportation, and increasing the number of school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers.

The House Education Committee improved some aspects of the bill, but the proposal is fundamentally flawed because it has limited transparency and accountability measures, which fall far short of the many requirements for public schools that measure student learning and responsible use of public resources.

SB 233 has not received a state fiscal note. Although lawmakers have been urged to do so by PAGE and other education advocates, they have not conducted a financial analysis of SB 233. Similar programs in other states started small and quickly ballooned, draining state resources.

As always, educators should use their personal (not school) email address and electronic device and contact policymakers outside of instructional time. The most persuasive legislator messages are personalized and demonstrate an educator’s commitment to the students the educator serves. In addition to personalized stories about their school community, educators can use SB 233 information in this message, the PAGE Southwest Georgia rural case study, or the PAGE SB 233 bill brief.

Use your home address to lookup your House member's contact information using Open States. Please note that Open States labels House members using the signifier "Lower Chamber." In messages to Representatives, be sure to mention your city, town, or county in the subject line and body of your message, so your House member knows you are a constituent.