HB 243 (Reps. Hamilton-R, Dudgeon-R, Powell-R, Glanton-D, Setzler-R and Stephens-R)

Education Savings Account Act

This bill amends current code with by adding O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2140 - 20-2-2149, which establish a state-funded education savings account which parents may use at their discrection to pay their children's qualifying education expenses for a wide array of expenses outside of the public school system, including future expenses for attendance at postsecondary institutions.

To be eligible for the Education Savings Account, the student must have attended a Georgia secondary or primary public school during the preceding semester or be eligible to enroll in first grade or kindergarten.

The parents must sign an agreement with the following provisions:

• They agree to oprovide and education for the eligible student in at the least the subjects of English and language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.
• They agree NOT to enroll the eligible student in a public school
• They agree to use the funds deposited into the education savings account only for qualifying educational expenses for the eligible student.

Participating students will be counted in the FTE counts for the public school to which they would otherwise be assigned for the purpose of obtaining a funding amount.  These funds would show as a deduct on the reporting district's allotment sheet.  State funds earned for the student would be deposited into the Education Savings Account by the State, so that parents could access them through a "participating school" to pay eligible expenses.

NOTE:

There are numerous other provisions regarding the requirements on the "participating school" and the parents of the participaing students, however, it is most important that we note this is a Universal Voucher Program, that allows all state funding to follow the child to private and/or post-secondary education.