Amid rocky start, new proposed budget slashes almost $100M from Georgia school vouchers

Over 5,000 Georgia families have eagerly completed their applications for the Georgia Promise Scholarship, but the program may not be able to fund as many public school students as promised, according to state education agency leaders.

Earlier this week, the Georgia House proposed a budget that drastically reduces the initial $141 million investment Gov. Brian Kemp recommended to fund the first year of the voucher program to just $45 million — a nearly $100 million slash, said Lynne Riley, president of the Georgia Finance Student Commission.

The scholarship offers up to $6,500 for private school or homeschooling expenses for 22,000 eligible students in the state’s bottom 25% for academic achievement.

But, with the budget cuts, only about 7,000 students may receive financial assistance, Riley said during the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee meeting Thursday.

The first application period for the scholarships opened on March 1.

In just 12 days, Riley said nearly 7,000 Georgia families have started the application process, with 5,000 completing the forms.

Warner Robins parent Treon Walker said she was on the program’s website early the day it opened to apply.

Walker, a full-time nursing student, is now worried the proposed cuts will limit her 5-year-old daughter’s chance to receive a scholarship and disrupt plans for the 2025-26 academic year.

“With being in school myself and paying for much of it out of pocket, (it) doesn’t leave much left over to pay for private school or microschooling for my daughter,” Walker told The Telegraph.

Over 30 schools in the Middle Georgia Regional Education Service Agency were identified on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement final list of underperforming schools, including five in Houston County.

If funding is cut and her daughter doesn’t receive a scholarship, Walker said her only option is for her daughter to remain in public school and get a tutor until she can afford the transition after graduating from nursing school.

House Appropriations Chairman Matt Hatchett said lawmakers had to make difficult budget decisions, with many important initiatives vying for funding, Georgia Public Broadcasting reported.

Riley said the GSFC is seeing applications roll in from across the state, and she expects the number to increase.

“We do believe there’s great appetite for this program,” she said. “We support the governor’s initial recommendation of fully funding the program at the 1% quality basic education funding formula (used to determine state funding) to provide that opportunity that members of the General Assembly pledged to students across our state for alternative methods of education delivery.”

The Georgia Promise Scholarship faced criticism for causing criteria confusion stemming from delays and retracted lists of eligible schools. Now, there’s a proposed bill that wants to repeal the program.

Verdaillia Turner, president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers, said the program’s rocky start confirms her opposition to what she describes as “a covert way of segregating and discriminating against students.”

“Vouchers don’t even need to exist. This voucher was marketed to undermine public schools, and it’s a covert way of privatizing tax dollars,” Turner said. “There’s absolutely no research that backs up a voucher program …and its correlation with student achievement.”

Turner advises concerned parents to hold lawmakers accountable and work with their public schools to boost their children’s academic progress instead.

Riley said the commission is evaluating applications to ensure families submit correct information for eligibility.

Families may also apply during the second application window, opening in June, Riley added.

“I would also remind the members that the construct of Senate Bill 233 requires a rolling enrollment construct,” she said. “However, considering what the House is contemplating for a reduction, we would be capped at 7,000 and potentially immediately have closure to the program.”

Senate lawmakers will review the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and make their own revisions to it.

The Georgia Senate Press Office told The Telegraph the upper chamber won’t know for a few days when exactly it will vote to approve the budget.