In 1993, then-Governor Zell Miller signed a charter school law allowing an unlimited number of existing public schools to convert to charter schools upon the approval of two-thirds of the teachers, two-thirds of the parents, and the local and state school boards.[1]

Vouchers gained attention in 1993 when attorney Glenn Delk, president of Georgia Parents for Better Education, publicized a 1961 law that provided education grants to help families avoid desegregated public schools and attend a public or private school of choice. Section 20-2-640-650 of the Georgia Code specifies that "Every child between the ages of six and 19 years residing in this state...who is otherwise eligible and qualified to attend the elementary and secondary public schools of the local school system wherein such child resides shall, in lieu of attending the public schools of such local school system be eligible to receive an education grant to be expended for the purpose of paying or otherwise defraying the cost of tuition at a nonsectarian private school..."[2]

Delk declared that the law "may have been passed for the wrong reasons, but we hope to use it for the right reasons. I think all parents should have a choice about whether they send their children to public or private schools. The people who can benefit the most are those who don't have a choice--low income black parents."[3] State officials deemed the law "unusable," but strong public interest encouraged then-Lieutenant Governor Pierre Howard, a Democrat, to call for special public hearings.[4] In 1997, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that there was no funding mechanism available to provide the vouchers under the old law.[5]

In 1995, Governor Miller signed legislation to facilitate the process of forming or renewing a charter by changing the requirement for teacher support from a two-thirds vote to a simple majority. Another amendment to the charter school law extended the length of the charters from three to five years.[6]

A 1995 law enables junior and senior high school students to take selected higher education courses. Under the program, students may receive both secondary and postsecondary credit and graduate early from high school.[7]

During the 1998 legislative session, the legislature further amended the charter school law. Under the revised law, local schools, private individuals and organizations, or state or local entities can operate a charter school. A majority of the governing board of a charter school must be composed of parents whose children attend the school.[8]

In 1999, then-Senator Clay Land introduced an Early HOPE Scholarship bill, Senate Bill 68, designed to award state-funded scholarships to low-income families whose children attended poor-performing public schools. These vouchers would have been worth the cost of tuition at a private school or 90 percent of the state's expenditure per public school pupil, whichever was less. When Senator Land introduced the bill as a floor amendment to another education bill, a lengthy debate on choice ensued. The bill failed by a vote along party lines.[9]

Another school choice bill, S.B. 517, that was introduced during the 1999-2000 legislative session would have provided tax credits of up to $500 for donations to the Georgia Elementary and Secondary Education Assistance Corporation, which would have provided financial assistance for students enrolled in both public and private schools. The bill died in committee.[10]

In 2000, the legislature adopted House Bill 1187, which requires annual testing in core subjects and the establishment of an accountability office to monitor school performance. Under the law, the Georgia State Board of Education may grant parents of children in failing schools the option to transfer to another public school within their district.[11] In addition to allowing intradistrict transfers, H.B. 1187 also allows charter school applicants who have been rejected by the local school board to appeal to the state board and requires all charter schools to participate in the state's accountability system.[12]

The Georgia Public Policy Foundation (GPPF) established the Charter School Resource Center to help groups maneuver through the daunting legal and financial challenges involved in opening a charter school.[13] The GPPF also releases rankings of every public school in the state and encourages parents to learn more about their children's schools and to compare their school's performance against the performance of other schools.[14] Meanwhile, charter school petitioners and operators formed the Georgia Charter Schools Association to network, to lobby for changes in the state's charter school laws and policies, and to educate the public about charter schools.[15]

In 2001, three school choice bills were introduced in the state legislature. S.B. 200 would have established the Early HOPE Scholarship Program through which low-income students in failing schools could have received vouchers. These vouchers would have been worth the cost of tuition at a private school or 90 percent of the funding per public school pupil, whichever was less. S.B. 201 would have required the Georgia State Board of Education to implement a pilot voucher for poor children in three failing public schools throughout the state. As with S.B. 200, these vouchers would have been worth the cost of tuition at the private school of choice or 90 percent of the funding per public school pupil, whichever was less. H.B. 588 would have given taxpayers an income tax credit of up to $1,000 for education expenses, including private school tuition. All three bills failed to pass.[16]

The voucher and tax credit bills introduced during the 2001 legislative session (S.B. 200, S.B. 201, and H.B. 588) were carried over into the 2002 session, but no further action was taken.[17]

The legislature passed H.B. 1200, which made several changes in the charter school law. Local boards are now required to provide a written rationale for the rejection of a charter school plan. This law removed the blanket exemption provided by the 1998 law and requires applicants to list the specific laws and rules for which they request a waiver. It also removed the requirement that a majority of the governing board be composed of parents.[18]

The Georgia Department of Education released a report showing that the state's charter schools are outpacing their traditional counterparts. Specifically, 93 percent of charter school students passed the state's standardized tests in all five subjects, in contrast to 85 percent of students in traditional public schools. Fewer charter school students repeat grades or drop out of school, yet Georgia charter schools serve a higher percentage of English-as-a-second-language learners and special education students.[19]

Representative Chip Rogers introduced H.B. 337 to provide a tax credit of up to $250 for home-schooling families and H.B. 985 to enable private and home-schooled students to participate in the dual enrollment program. Both of these bills died when the 2004 legislative session ended in April.[20]

In late 2003, Governor Sonny Perdue announced a proposal to realign Georgia's constitution with the U.S. Constitution by adding "except as permitted or required by the United States Constitution, as amended."[21] The new clause would prevent discrimination in public funding against faith-based providers of social services and individuals who choose to receive such services by ensuring that Georgia's Blaine Amendment is interpreted consistent with the First Amendment, which allows individuals to use public funds at faith-based institutions. Thirty-seven states have Blaine Amendment language, which prohibits tax money from flowing to religious institutions. Vestiges of a 19th century anti-Catholic movement, state-level Blaine amendments have been used by some courts to strike down voucher programs, while other courts have upheld choice programs despite the clause.

In November 2003 Senate Daniel Lee (R-29) introduced Senate Resolution 560, which embodied the governor's proposal for altering the Blaine Amendment language. Passage in Georgia General Assembly would place the issue before Georgia voters as a ballot initiative.

In January 2004, S.R. 560, which would bring Georgia's Blaine Amendment into harmony with the First Amendment, passed in the Senate. It was then sent to the House and submitted to the Judiciary Committee. The bill was withdrawn by the end of the month and recommitted, without further action.[22]

The Georgia Department of Education released a charter school report in 2004, which indicated that Georgia's charter schools are surpassing other public schools.[23]  According to the report, a greater proportion of students attending charter schools scored in the "Meets Standards" and "Exceeds Standards" levels than their public school counterparts on state tests. In addition, 74 percent of the charter schools, compared with 64 percent of total Georgia schools, met their AYP targets.[24]

In September 2004, Georgia State University researchers released the results of a study showing that competition fostered by school choice can result in raised student achievement. Gary Henry and Craig Gordon of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies will release their full report before the end of 2004. The initial report shows higher achievement in areas where public pre-Kindergarten programs must compete for students with private providers than in areas with only public providers.[25]

At the end of January 2005, three parents filed suit against the state saying Georgia's education system should be declared unconstitutional. The suit says the system does not provide equal opportunities in education for families who are not wealthy. The parents in the case suggest several solutions including statewide public school choice or publicly-funded vouchers (though the language in the suit does not use the term "vouchers").[26]

Also in 2005, the Georgia General Assembly approved new rules for charter school authorization and funding. Under the new provisions, charter schools are eligible for assistance with facilities expenses and funding for emergencies. The amounts appropriated for these two areas is small--just $500,000 for facilities assistance and $125,000 for emergency funding. Some charter schools expect to receive up to 10 percent more funding under the new rules. In addition, the new rules allow two or more public schools in neighboring areas to convert to charter schools simultaneously, providing for a "feeder' system into a charter high school.[27]