Bill for $6,500 vouchers creeps toward Georgia House passage

Georgia conservatives are getting closer to a long-held goal of broadening state funding for private school tuition and home schooling. A House committee has passed a bill that would give $6,500 educational vouchers to students who would otherwise attend low-performing schools. The bill advances to the House for more debate. The Georgia push is part of a nationwide GOP wave for what supporters call education savings accounts. Opponents say the effort will divert needed funding from public schools. Only children served by public schools in the lowest 25% of the state’s academic rating system could benefit under the Georgia measure.