School Choice for More Children, Says Georgia

Kathryn HickokQuickPoint!

Last week Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation enacting a new school choice program for Georgia children. The new law provides for education tax credits on both personal and corporate income taxes for donations made to privately run non-profit Student Scholarship Organizations.

Unlike some other school choice programs nationwide, Georgia’s new law has no demographic or income restrictions on the awarding of scholarships. Any Georgia child can apply, not only low-income children, children living in carefully specified communities, or children attending schools which the government has determined are “failing.”

This distinction is important, because freedom in education is good for all children, not just for children deemed by the state to be “at risk.”

Every child is unique. Parents, not government bureaucracies, should decide which school is best for their children and be empowered to choose those schools.

23 school choice programs currently exist in 14 states and the District of Columbia. 15 of these programs, like Georgia’s, have no family income restrictions.

Isn’t it time for Oregon to give all parents real choices in their children’s education? Visit the website of the Oregon Education Tax Credit Coalition to see how you can help bring more educational options to all of Oregon’s children.

Kathryn Hickok is Director of the Children’s Scholarship Fund-Portland and Publications Director at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market think tank.

© 2007, Cascade Policy Institute. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the author and Cascade Policy Institute are cited. Contact Cascade at (503) 242-0900 to arrange print or broadcast interviews on this topic. For more topics visit the QuickPoint! archive.

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