Public funding for private education was a focus for Georgia conservative lawmakers and lobbyists Thursday as they discussed their agenda for next year’s state legislative session at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation’s legislative forum.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle calls Georgia’s public education system complacent. He said a one-size-fits-all system won’t work.
“We have to design an educational system that meets the needs of each individual student, and we also have to offer choices,” Cagle said. “When we do that, it’s magical.”
A bill in the Georgia House could make that magic for Cagle.
HB 243 would establish education savings accounts of state money, which parents could use to pay for private or home schooling.
Critics of the bill say over decades it would cost the state hundreds of millions and move money away from an already ailing public school system.
Cagle is a long-time advocate of charter schools, another education option in Georgia.
