Sixteen Georgia House Republicans dealt school choice a setback a year ago, voting against education savings accounts, or ESAs, for students in poorly performing districts. This month the ESAs came back to life, imperfectly, but at least it’s a start.
The Georgia House voted 91-82 last week to pass the scholarships, which are worth $6,500 each. They can be used toward private school tuition and other education expenses by students in the worst-performing 25% of Georgia public schools. Eight of last year’s Republican “nays” flipped their votes. The Senate, which passed the bill last year, voted for it again on Wednesday, and it heads to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk.
The success is thanks to Mr. Kemp getting over his seeming ambivalence from a year ago. He gave school choice top billing in his State of the State address, telling lawmakers the state had “run out of ‘next years.’” Last year his tepid public support came too late.
House Speaker Jon Burns also supported ESAs more forcefully, taking the unusual step of promoting the bill in committee last week. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Speaker pro tem Jan Jones kept up their commitment. House Republicans in rural areas were the main force joining Democrats against the bill last year, and seven still voted “no” last week.