Key Points

Georgia is one of the fastest growing states in the country, and for good reason. But we imperil our ongoing growth if we fail to offer families the opportunity to choose a world-class education for their children. That means giving all students access to the right school for them — whether that’s a traditional public school, a public charter school, a private school, or a homeschool.

By falling short on this goal, Georgia risks falling behind other states who are increasingly offering families more and more choices in K-12 education. Two of the latest examples are Iowa and Utah. 

In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds recently signed a bill into law that creates Education Scholarship Accounts (or ESAs) for lower income Iowa families, allowing the money to follow the child to the best school for his or her unique needs. The program will be phased in over three years until it’s available to all families regardless of income.

Meanwhile, the state House in Utah approved a bill last week that would create a similar ESA, with dollars available for families to use for expenses like private school tuition, therapies, tutors, or other curriculum. That bill next goes to the state Senate.

Many Georgia parents are likely looking at families in Iowa and Utah and wondering, “Why can’t we get the same level of educational opportunity here?” It’s a good question. Year after year, lawmakers in the Georgia General Assembly have considered passing our own version of an ESA, but each year the measure has fallen short.

In the current 2023 session, lawmakers have another shot at passing ESAs and it’s well past time to make them a reality. The biggest argument against ESAs is that they will hurt traditional public schools. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We believe that when families are well served by our K-12 education infrastructure, all schools will benefit. 

Georgia risks falling behind other fast-growing states unless we address the need to offer a truly diverse set of educational options.

Georgia risks falling behind other fast-growing states unless we address the need to offer a truly diverse set of educational options.

• ESAs could potentially open the doors to establishing more private schools in Georgia, in both rural and urban areas.
• ESAs would allow parents to allocate funds to their children’s specific educational needs.
• ESAs have a positive impact on families in rural communities.

This year, the Georgia Legislature is poised to once again consider creating Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) for families statewide. These scholarships would allocate funds to allow parents to choose the best educational option for their child’s unique needs.

Expanding educational access should be a welcome development for lawmakers and citizens alike. After all, who could argue with the idea of making educational opportunities more accessible? Unfortunately, expanding access to a wider variety of schools and academic opportunities can be an issue that divides lawmakers not only along party lines, but along the lines of an urban-rural divide as well.

For instance, Georgia lawmakers who represent rural areas have raised concerns about the impact that expanded educational opportunities could have on their local school districts. The argument goes like this: Rural areas tend to lack access to private or charter schools compared to urban areas, so efforts to increase the diversity of educational options will end up siphoning money away from traditional public schools, the one and only option available in rural districts.

As the Georgia Legislature is set to take up a bill that would create ESAs, now is a great time to debunk the myth that educational opportunity simply doesn’t benefit rural areas.

Let’s jump right into it.

Myth 1: There aren’t enough private schools near rural areas to justify ESAs

In a December 2022 interview with Conduit News, Dr. Patrick Wolf busted the myth that families living in rural areas don’t have access to private schools. He cited a 2017 Brookings Institution survey that revealed 69% of rural families live within 10 miles’ driving distance of a private school. 

“Ten miles is easy commuting distance, especially when you live out in the sticks like I do,” said Wolf. “So, the overwhelming majority of families in rural areas do have access to private schools.”

Of course, when there is demand for any product, service, or offering, society finds ways to meet those demands. The same is true for educational opportunities. Wolf explains: “The other thing that happens when school choice programs are launched statewide is more private schools spring up because there’s a greater opportunity to serve students. When you increase the demand for school choice by making it more feasible to more families, supply emerges to meet that demand. It’s just straight economics.”

In other words, ESAs could potentially open the doors to establishing more private schools in Georgia, in both rural and urban areas. 

At the time of this writing, there are 824 private schools across the state of Georgia, with 152,851 students enrolled. During 2021-2022, there were 90 charter schools in the state as well. While that number is dwarfed by Georgia’s public schools (2,308, with 1,728,049 students enrolled), it’s still significant.

Broadening educational opportunity would effectively give parents in rural areas a reason to demand more options where they live. If Wolf’s assessment of supply and demand is correct (and we believe it is), then we can expect that more rural families will benefit from private schools in the coming years as a direct result of ESAs. 

Myth 2: Disadvantaged kids don’t benefit from private or charter schools

Opponents of expanded educational opportunity often argue that disadvantaged kids don’t benefit from it. The National Coalition for Public Education argues that vouchers hurt rural areas not only because fewer students attend public schools, but also because the students themselves have to take on heavier time and economic costs in order to attend private and charter schools. They also argue that public schools are the facilities best equipped to serve diverse student populations, including minorities, students with special needs, and students from low-income areas.

But the previously cited Brookings Institution survey revealed that the majority of rural families do have reasonable access to a private school. Research also shows that disadvantaged students do, indeed, benefit from expanded educational opportunity. Students in charter schools tend to perform better academically than their peers in public schools. What’s more, low-income and ethnic minority students showed the most significant academic gains when enrolled in charter schools.

Keep in mind, too, that ESAs would allow parents to allocate funds to their children’s specific educational needs. That means families can use those funds to choose a school that is the best fit for that child. While lobbying groups and district superintendents may argue that state-funded schools are the best equipped to handle those needs, parents are ultimately the primary authority on what their children need to be successful.

Ultimately, giving families more educational options has a positive impact on long-term results, academic achievement, and parental satisfaction.

Ultimately, giving families more educational options has a positive impact on long-term results, academic achievement, and parental satisfaction.

Myth 3: Educational opportunity could hurt — not help — rural communities

Yet another argument against opening up educational opportunity is that it could hurt rural communities. In reality, though, it’s rural districts that fear losing students to private or charter schools. This isn’t a partisan issue — in fact, legislators on both sides of the aisle have argued against educational opportunity in rural areas.

They often make these arguments on behalf of superintendents, who claim that educational opportunity will have irreversible economic consequences on their districts. For example, rural superintendents often argue that important public school jobs will be lost as a result of tools like ESAs. Cuts in state funding could lead to budget cuts, resulting in fewer public school resources and causing employees in the district to lose their jobs.

However, recent data out of Florida — a state with strong educational opportunity — shows that ESAs have a positive impact on families in rural communities. As of the 2021-2022 school year, there had been a 10.6% enrollment increase in rural charter, private, and homeschool students in comparison to the previous decade. Private school scholarships had boomed, coming in at 6,992 in 2021-2022 as opposed to 1,706 in 2011-2012.

On top of all that, the demand for private schools has resulted in the creation of more. Over the past two decades, Florida’s rural private schools have almost doubled, from 69 to 120. Arguably, any jobs lost in a public school district as a result of educational opportunity could be replaced by the expansion of private school availability in any given area.

Ultimately, giving families more educational options has a positive impact on long-term results, academic achievement, and parental satisfaction. As parents and students are a part of their rural communities, it’s difficult to argue that these outcomes are detrimental to the areas in which they live.