Georgia’s new school voucher program has hit a snag after a state agency withdrew the list of eligible public schools.
The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement released a list 10 days ago that included 42 Richmond County schools considered the state’s lowest performing. All but the district’s magnet schools, three of its elementary schools and two middle schools were on the list.
Parents of students who attended the named schools for two semesters would be eligible to apply for $6,500 “Promise Scholarship” vouchers to pay tuition and expenses to attend non-public schools or to homeschool. The schools were said to have scored in the bottom 25% of College and Career Ready Performance Index.
Senate Bill 233, signed into law earlier this year, created the Promise Schools voucher program. Priority for the scholarships was going to families earning less than 400% of the federal poverty line, or about $120,000 for a family of four.
Tuesday, the state agency removed the list from its website, stating the data needed another look.
“GOSA is currently validating additional data to ensure accuracy of the Promise Scholarship school list. The list has been removed from the website while validation is underway. A verified list will be posted as soon as validation is completed,” a statement said.
The withdrawn voucher list included no schools from Burke or Lincoln counties and only a single school in Columbia County, Harlem Middle School.
Prior to the list being withdrawn, the Richmond County School System issued a statement saying the system has made great strides.
“We strongly believe that our schools have outstanding educators and students who have grown greatly over the past few years. We’ve achieved historic increases in our graduation rate and had several schools exit federal improvement lists, ” it said.
In the CCPRI scores released Friday, the Richmond system saw gains across all grade levels in all measured components, including content mastery, progress, closing gaps, readiness and graduation rate. The system achieved its highest-ever four-year graduation rate at 81.7%.
Find out more about Georgia Promise Act scholarships.
View the withdrawn voucher schools list:
