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The soft underbelly of school vouchers exposed — An Opinion ColumnMon, 03/31/2008 - 3:57pm
By: Cal Beverly
[A rebuttal letter follows this column.] A Column of Opinion — I’ve voted Republican for a quarter century, but I’m wishing I had some choices other than loony Democrats and hardcore “looking out for number one” Libertarians. Latest exhibit: Senate Bill 458. Here is where ideological theory got pounded by political reality. And its aftermath demonstrates how our GOP leaders — including senators Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone) and Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), who are hard at work covering their posteriors before elections later this year — just don’t get it. SB 458 started out as a school voucher bill, a GOP favorite. Then theory met the real world. Clayton County schools face almost certain loss of accreditation this year, leaving thousands of innocent students without access to HOPE scholarships and competitive colleges. GOP leaders had an “ah-ha” moment: Let’s push this voucher bill through now. Even Democrats will see how kids need an escape mechanism from failing schools. The bill originally said neighboring school systems “may” accept such fleeing students, depending on space availability. Sen. Valencia Seay (D-Riverdale) insisted on changing “may accept” to “shall accept” and got her way. By the way, Seay ostensibly represents a chunk of Fayette County, but she obviously cares not what Fayette voters want. Her allegiance lies entirely within Clayton County borders. Fayette voters — black and white — should remember that next election season. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), supposedly vetted the change in language with “legislative counsel” and supposedly was told that the change from “may” to “shall” would have no effect on the operation of the bill. Supposedly, receiving counties still would have veto option on incoming students. Pardon me for a whispered reference to bovine manure. If the word change made no difference, then why even make the change? Who was misleading whom with this verbal trick? And might I humbly suggest that the senators find another lawyer who will correctly instruct them on the very precise legal difference between “may” and “shall.” Sen. Chance pleads ignorance of the word change in an interview last week with our John Munford. The meaning just slipped right by him, although he is the governor’s floor leader for legislation. (His latest story is that the amendment to “shall” came as the result of unanimous passage of a “consent agenda” following a recorded vote. I guess you gotta be careful what you are consenting to.) The Fayette County School System’s leaders clearly saw the implications in SB 458. They mobilized the local media and emailed parents about the pending bill. Tens of thousands of emails and phone calls later, the senators are spinning a different story, as if the firestorm were caused by “misinformation” or mistaken reporting that unnecessarily inflamed the voting public. Horse feathers. Somebody is telling a whopper. The school system and the parents and the news media knew exactly what this “school choice” bill would do, and they rose up against it by the multiple thousands. In a GOP county, the parents saw that the then-current GOP version of “school choice” would have been a disaster for Fayette County students and taxpayers. And our GOP leaders in the legislature still don’t get it. Had there not been an uprising, the “shall” bill would have slipped on through. And Fayette County schools would be facing lawsuits and court-ordered acceptance of hundreds, maybe thousands, of Clayton students. Either our GOP leaders — including Chance and Seabaugh — pushed through ideologically driven legislation without thinking through the consequences, or they didn’t understand themselves what the consequences might be for receiving systems. Either way, they deserve to be taken to the woodshed. Johnson himself is unrepentant. In a Friday news release, the Senate majority leader said in his op-ed piece, “It’s time for scholarships for children in failing schools ... Hold on, children. Help is on the way.” Johnson continues, “The legislature is considering a lifeline for the parents of these children. SB 458 would require that the state funding for each child be offered to the parents as a scholarship that can be used to transfer the child to any public or private school that will accept the student. We estimate that the scholarship will be worth about $4,150 in Clayton County. That will cover a significant portion of private school tuition.” The problem is that the state money would cover only about half the cost of educating a Clayton child in a Fayette school. Who picks up the difference between the state scholarship and the Fayette funding required? You and me, and all other Fayette — NOT Clayton — taxpayers. Either we cough up more money for unexpected numbers of students, enough new tax money needed to educate all students to Fayette standards. Or we take away money currently being spent to educate Fayette students in order to spread it around to accommodate the new students. And that’s the soft underbelly of the school voucher argument. State funds alone are not enough to educate students attending Fayette schools — or for that matter, most schools. Fayette taxpayers cough up through local property taxes another $3,500 to $4,000 on top of state money. It’s that addition by Fayette taxpayers that helps provide a superior education for Fayette students. So far, all the GOP emphasis has been on allowing students in failing or unaccredited systems to transfer out to neighboring public systems or private schools. There has been NO discussion on the impact of even moderate numbers of incoming students on the finances of receiving public systems. And there simply are not enough private school classrooms to accommodate additional hundreds or thousands of fleeing students. Now we hear (as of Monday afternoon) that the legislature — shocked by the Fayette uprising — has taken public schools out of the mix entirely, meaning that all fleeing students would have to find available private school space to accept them at $4,100 per pupil. Do you suppose that we might see “voucher” academies start popping up in strip shopping centers, next to the pawn shops and title loan stores, advertising their willingness to accept students for — guess how much — the same amount as the state tuition of $4,100? What kind of education might students receive from that approach? The GOP at the Capitol is not legislating; it is flailing, jumping from one shaky position to another, its current substitute for clear thinking. The Democrats are mired in race-based reactionary obstructionism entirely unrelated to good governance. Voters need to exercise some quality control at the next election. If only there were any quality, thoughtful candidates to choose from ... Rebuttal from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation EDITOR’S NOTE: The following email was received Tuesday afternoon in response to the online version of the above opinion column. It is reprinted in its entirety.] The concern expressed regarding the effort by the General Assembly to come to the aid of Clayton County students (“The soft underbelly of school vouchers exposed,” 03/31/2008) makes some very dubious assumptions and alarms Fayette County residents unnecessarily. Not only has the language in the proposed legislation been clearly amended to make acceptance of any out-of-district students voluntary, but the predicted financial impact on Fayette County is inaccurate. Current Georgia law authorizes the state Board of Education to provide a procedure for a student to enroll in another school system. However, the statute declares that the board of education receiving the student must be “willing to receive and to permit such student to enroll in and to attend the public schools of such local unit.” State funding always follows students who transfer to a public school in a school system other than their own. Traditionally, the difference between the state funding and the receiving system’s costs are made up by local funds from the student’s home school system and/or tuition paid for by the student’s family. This amount is often negotiated in a contract between the two school systems. Therefore, the Fayette County Board of Education is guaranteed the right to refuse admission of an out-of-district student and it is free to require funding (in addition to state funding) that in its judgment is fair. If Fayette County were negatively impacted financially, it would be because of poor financial judgment and not due to state law. Scaremongering that would deprive this state’s children of an adequate education is unfair, shortsighted and irresponsible. Kelly McCutchen 
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