North Carolina

GCO's BETTER WORK program partners with Jobs for Life to empower people to pursue meaningful work that brings purpose, belonging, and upward mobility.

Key Points

GCO’s BETTER WORK program partners with Jobs for Life to offer community-based job-training classes that help people build the skills, mindset, and confidence to pursue long-term, stable employment.
BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life are a powerful pair because both programs believe that every person has an inherent dignity and value. Together, these programs focus on helping people realize their worth, build purpose-filled lives, and find support and community.
The impact of this partnership shines in the success stories of participants like Quendasia and Tiarra, who found a renewed sense of purpose and vocation through the Jobs for Life class.

Quendasia’s life was changed forever when she was seriously injured in a car crash several years ago. The accident left her with a traumatic brain injury that made returning to work a challenge. She spent five years struggling with unemployment before hearing about the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) BETTER WORK program—and its partnership with Jobs for Life.

Like many job-seekers, Quendasia discovered BETTER WORK in a moment of crisis or urgent need. And because GCO prioritizes building a network of community resources and employer partners, we were able to help her find support for her immediate needs.

But part of what makes BETTER WORK unique—and effective—is that we help people move from crisis into developing connections and a fresh mindset to pursue long-term, stable work. This is where BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life (JFL) came alongside Quendasia to help her envision and pursue a professional path that was so much more than just a paycheck.

This gets to the heartbeat of GCO—to remove barriers to opportunity and foster thriving communities in which everyone can achieve their fullest potential. Work is a key piece of the puzzle—not only because it unlocks economic mobility, but also because it empowers people to find fulfillment in a sense of personal and collective purpose, structured routines, and relationships that lead to belonging and support.

Together, BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life empower people to see that they have a valuable place in their communities and can make unique contributions through work.

Back in 2022, we recognized that the focus of our BETTER WORK initiative strongly aligned with the vision and values of Jobs for Life, a network of job-training groups available through churches and nonprofit organizations that break down barriers to work. Originally launched in 1996 in Raleigh, North Carolina, JFL is now available in more than 300 cities nationwide.

This shared vision led to a collaboration with the power to transform the lives of individuals, families, and whole communities.

In Columbus, which is home to one of our BETTER WORK chapters, we partner with Jobs for Life to offer an 11-week course that pairs participants with a one-on-one mentor. JFL’s curriculum has the benefit of incorporating essential skill training and behavioral development into its model. Each class provides two hours of instruction in soft skills, discussions on the importance of work in daily life, and exercises in character development.

Back to Quendasia’s story.

Prior to coming to Jobs for Life, she had a GED and she was planning to go to college. Through JFL, she honed practical and essential work skills—like how to interact with others and show up on time. These details seem small, but they are often the tools people need most to capably and confidently pursue meaningful work and realize their inherent personal value.

“Jobs for Life got my mind back on track for working. I met different people and learned different skills,” Quendasia shared. “Before Jobs for Life, I didn’t feel confident enough to get a job. I didn’t really believe in myself. But now I know I can do it.”

BETTER WORK's Jobs for Life class connects participants to community resources to support their journey toward meaningful work.

BETTER WORK’s Jobs for Life class in Columbus, GA, introduces participants to community resources and champions that offer support on their journeys to pursuing long-term, meaningful work.

The discovery of personal potential and worth is at the heart of BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life. Both programs share the core belief that everyone has an inherent, God-given dignity worthy of recognition and respect. Through their shared focus on relational support, human connections, and community, BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life empower people to see that they have a valuable place in their communities and can make unique contributions through work.

Today, Quendasia works at Piedmont Healthcare—an opportunity she never would have had without the support and networking she found through JFL.

The BETTER WORK partnership with Jobs for Life allows GCO to leverage our existing network of employers, community leaders, and resource providers to make JFL classes even more successful for the local churches and organizations that choose to host and sponsor the training in a BETTER WORK community.

Take one more example. Recently, Tiarra connected with BETTER WORK through our partnership with the Jobs for Life program. She was looking for new opportunities at a job fair after losing her job.

“The class pushed me even further,” Tiarra said. “I wouldn’t have ever found my mentor or the job I’m in right now. I love all the teachers. Every lesson was a blessing,”

Today, Tiarra is at Troy University online school working toward a bachelor’s degree in social work. “I used to live in fear, and now I embrace challenges and try to work through them instead of shying away from them,” she added.

Across the nation, the need for programs like BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life is significant: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of February 2024, nearly 6.5 million Americans were unemployed, 22 million were underemployed, and 80% of workers were disengaged.

These numbers can seem overwhelming and even impossible to change. But that only becomes true when we forget that the biggest differences start close to home.

When it comes to empowering vibrant communities and upward mobility, the most important place to start is at the community level. That’s what BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life are built for. Quendasia and Tiarra’s stories are testimonies to the good that can come when mission-aligned programs like BETTER WORK and Jobs for Life work together to build hope and opportunities in the places where people need them most—in the communities where everyday lives are lived.

press release, news, The press release prominently features the company logo and headline, with visible text detailing the announcement.

PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA—Today, the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) applauded Gov. Brian Kemp and the Georgia legislature for ushering into law the Promise Scholarships bill that will bring much-needed relief to the over half-a-million low- and middle-income kids stuck in low-performing schools.

“We are thankful to Gov. Kemp and the many House and Senate lawmakers who recognized the urgency of the moment and advanced a bill to provide much-needed opportunity to bolster academic options,” said Buzz Brockway, GCO’s vice president of public policy. “Passing Promise Scholarships is a momentous milestone for tens of thousands of Georgia kids struggling in a system that doesn’t work for them. It recognizes that Georgia is a diverse state with a diverse set of needs for education. After years of work, this bill is a positive step toward shaping an education system that honors every child’s unique situation and prevents a lack of quality education from locking children and communities into poverty.”

Senate Bill 233 will make students from the lowest performing 25% of public schools eligible to receive $6,500 a year set aside in an account. Parents can then use the funds to cover approved educational expenses, including private school tuition, books, uniforms, and even transportation.

SB 233 also gives first priority to students from families below 400% of the federal poverty level — around $120,000 a year for a family of four. Students above that threshold will be allowed to participate if funds are left over after the lower-income students are served.

Promise Scholarships will serve an estimated 21,500 kids when the program goes live for the 2025-2026 school year.

Georgia now joins a growing list of states offering educational options for all students. In the Southeast, Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina have recently enacted universal Education Savings Account programs, while South Carolina is in the process of creating a universal program in the coming years.

“The urgency to create an education lifeline for kids can’t be overstated. Education is a basic need. Lack of access to quality options is a major cause of many of the ills in our society, including putting a cap on upward mobility. A lack of quality education locks children into poverty and prevents communities from thriving,” said Brockway.

Although GCO praised passage of Promise Scholarships, Randy Hicks, GCO’s president and CEO, cautioned that the bill is just a first step.

“Unfortunately, the final compromise bill was watered down in a number of ways that will limit its reach,” said Hicks. “Funding for Promise Scholarships is capped to 1% of public school funding and there is a 10-year sunset on the entire program. It’s a positive step that over 20,000 students will be eligible for educational freedom, that number is a drop in the bucket compared to the need. We will continue building on this foundation for the future so that all of Georgia’s schoolchildren have options.”

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Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) is independent, non-partisan, and solutions-focused. Our team is dedicated to creating opportunities for a quality education, fulfilling work, and a healthy family life for all Georgians. To achieve our mission, we research ways to help remove barriers to opportunity in each of these pathways, promote our solutions to policymakers and the public, and help effective and innovative social enterprises deliver results in their communities.

Learn More about SB233

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Georgia's new education choice program, the Georgia Promise Scholarship, expands education opportunities for kids in low-performing public schools

Key Points

Georgia lawmakers and Gov. Kemp have officially passed Senate Bill 233, which creates a new education option called the Georgia Promise Scholarship program.
Promise Scholarships will help students in low-performing public schools. Eligible students can receive $6,500 scholarships to access different education options that match their needs.
The program is a positive first step toward an education system that works for every Georgia kid. To make an even bigger difference, lawmakers should work toward opening up the program to all Georgia students.

On April 23, 2024, Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 233, the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, into law. This education savings account program—the first of its kind in Georgia—will give parents access to $6,500 state-funded scholarships that they can use to afford the education option best suited to their child’s needs.

The Promise Scholarship Program empowers parents to give their kids quality education and brighter futures

Promise Scholarships will be state-administered, state-funded accounts that give parents $6,500 per year and per student to use for approved education expenses. The program will be available beginning in the 2025-2026 school year.

Parents can use these scholarships for a variety of education costs, including:

Tuition and fees for private schools, online classes, college courses, and vocational programs
Tutoring services
Curriculum and textbooks
Educational therapies
Technology, including adaptive or assistive technologies for students with special needs
Transportation costs

Because of this flexibility, Promise Scholarships allow parents to consider a wide range of options—from homeschooling to private schools to other unique combinations of education services.

“The best gift we can give our next generation is a quality education that opens the doors for new opportunities.” — Randy Hicks, GCO President & CEO

Promise Scholarship eligibility focuses on low- and middle-income students

SB 233 limits Promise Scholarship access to students enrolled in the bottom 25% of Georgia’s public schools, as ranked by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.

First priority will also be given to students from families below 400% of the federal poverty level—around $120,000 a year for a family of four. Students above that threshold will be allowed to participate if funds are left over after the lower-income students are served.

These parameters—plus the funding cap that SB 233 puts on the program—means that Promise Scholarships will serve an estimated 21,000-22,000 kids out of half a million that are stuck in low-performing public schools.

See all the student eligibility requirements here.

The Georgia Promise Scholarship is an important step for updating our education system

SB 233 is a good step toward giving Georgia families access to high-quality, diverse education options. With more education options, students will have even better opportunities to get an education that’s tailored to their needs and sets them up for success in today’s fast-changing world. But if Georgia is serious about investing in our communities, we must keep working to close the education opportunity gap for all of Georgia’s kids.

By passing SB 233, Georgia is catching up to neighboring states like Alabama, Florida, North Carolina that have already adopted education savings account programs.

While Georgia is starting out with narrow student eligibility, these other states are opting for universal ESA programs, opening access to all students. Georgia will need to be open to this model if we want to give our own students the best possible academic outcomes and opportunities for a flourishing life.

Thank you to Gov. Kemp and the lawmakers who recognized the urgency of the moment and passed Promise Scholarships to strengthen the key building block of education for thousands of kids across the state. It’s a momentous step toward a system where every child has access to quality education and a good life, regardless of income, race, zip code, or other life circumstances.

Learn more about the Georgia Promise Scholarship

The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act (SB 233): Questions and Answers (Georgia Center for Opportunity)

What is the Georgia Promise Scholarship? (Georgia Public Policy Foundation)

The Georgia Promise Scholarship (SB 233): What Private Schools Need to Know (Georgia Center for Opportunity)

Georgia Students Need More Schooling Choices (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Governor’s Signature on School Choice Bill Is Good First Step (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Georgia Governor Signs Bill to Launch ‘Promise Scholarships’ (Washington Examiner)

Promise Scholarships would give Georgia students stuck in failing schools the opportunity to access schooling options better suited to their needs.

Key Points

On March 14, 2024, the Georgia House voted 91-82 to pass Promise Scholarships (Senate Bill 233: The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act). The bill was confirmed in the Senate and signed into law on April 23, 2024.
SB 233 will create a much-needed education option for students zoned for a school ranked in the bottom 25% of public schools.
The Georgia House added parameters to the bill that reduce accessibility and set the bill to expire after 10 years. These issues will need to be addressed moving forward so that every child can have better opportunities to access quality education in Georgia.

On March 14, 2024, the Georgia House voted 91-82 to pass Promise Scholarships (Senate Bill 233: The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act). This bill is an important first step in extending an education lifeline to low- and middle-income kids in under-performing schools. While there is still much more to do as we press toward universal school access, we are thankful to the many House lawmakers who put the needs of kids above politics to advance this measure.

What’s in the Promise Scholarship Bill?

With these Promise Scholarships, students in the lowest performing 25% of public schools will be eligible to have $6,500 a year set aside in an account. These are the funds the state would have spent for their public school education. Under this bill, parents can direct the funds to cover approved educational expenses, including private school tuition, books, uniforms, and even transportation.

SB 233 also gives first priority to students from families below 400% of the federal poverty level—around $120,000 a year for a family of four. Students above that threshold will be allowed to participate if funds are left over after lower-income students are served.

To give public schools time to plan and adjust, public school districts will still receive state funding for a period of two years to cover any students leaving to participate in the program.

“Our job is not decide for every family but to support them in making the best choice for their child.” — Gov. Brian Kemp, 2024 State of the State Address

“Our job is not decide for every family but to support them in making the best choice for their child.”
— Gov. Brian Kemp, 2024 State of the State Address

Limits to Promise Scholarships

While we are thankful that the bill moved forward in the 2024 legislative session, the version of SB 233 passed by the House is watered down in significant ways:

It restricts eligibility and access: The bill caps the amount of revenue available to fund Promise Scholarships to not exceed 1% of public school funding. Even if parent demand maxes out the program, this amount only covers an estimated 21,000-22,000 kids. That’s 0.012% of Georgia’s public school student population, and only a fraction of the 500,000+ kids that are stuck in the bottom 25% of public schools.

It applies expiration dates: Unless a future legislative body evaluates the program and chooses to extend it, the Georgia Promise Scholarship program will expire in 10 years. In that decade, lawmakers will still have to vote annually to fund the program. These measures add a layer of uncertainty that makes it difficult to secure a future of success and opportunity for our kids.

A view of the Georgia State Capitol Building, a symbol of political and historical significance in Atlanta, Georgia

Curious how your representative voted on SB 233?
Georgia’s General Assembly puts the voting records online. Go to the legislature’s website to see the breakdown of support among state representatives.

See the Promise Scholarship votes

Student success is at the heart of Promise Scholarships

The passage of SB 233 can’t come soon enough. Georgia is now surrounded by states that are aggressively and urgently addressing the needs of the future generations by adopting education savings accounts, or ESAs, that are open to all students. Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina have recently enacted universal programs, while South Carolina is in the process of creating a universal program in the coming years.

ESAs, particularly universal ones, are good policy because kids need quicker solutions for accessing education options that will work best for them. We can’t wait on reforms that will take years or even decades to take hold. As we’ve seen before, increased funding is no guarantee that poor performing public schools will improve, much less improve quickly.

Every semester, our K-12 students have academic milestones they are supposed to hit. And we know that when they don’t achieve these goals, they are more likely to fall further and further behind their peers, putting themselves and their futures at risk.

SB 233 provides immediate help by making Promise Scholarships available beginning with the school year in 2025.

Education is a building block of a flourishing life. Without access to quality education in Georgia, our kids and our communities will continue down a path where success and opportunity are not open to everyone in the state. An increasing number of families are looking for alternatives, and we must work to provide opportunities that meets the needs of all students, not just a few.

Georgia Needs to Widen Schooling Choices in 2024
(Buzz Brockway in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Georgia Passes Promise Scholarships and Expands Education Opportunity

Governor’s Signature on School Choice Bill Is Good First Step
(Randy Hicks in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Georgia Promise Scholarships (SB 233): Questions and Answers

Gov. Brian Kemp Champions Education Opportunity, Calls for Unity on Promise Scholarship

Why Educational Opportunity Is Good for Rural Areas, Too

Mother walking students to a local public school.

Key Points

Public school transfers are an education option that allows parents to move their child to a public school they’re not zoned for (as long as the school has space).
Georgia currently allows public school transfers within a student’s district but not outside of it.
Parents must apply for a public school transfer. Scroll down to find out how to check with your local school district for availability and application deadlines.

Public school transfers explained

Public school transfers, also referred to as open enrollment for public schools, allow parents to move their student to a different public school than the one they’re zoned for.

This is a great option for states to provide because it increases flexibility within the public school system—something parents increasingly want. The majority of Georgia students (84%) attend public school, so transfers empower more parents to choose the public school environment that’s right for their child.

Public school transfers available in Georgia

Allowed: Transfers within assigned school districts. Georgia offers restricted public school transfers. Families can send their child to any school within their assigned local district as long as that school has space and has been operating for at least four years. This option is known as an “intra-district transfer.”

Not yet allowed: Transfers outside of assigned school districts. Another type of public school transfer, called an “inter-district transfer,” permits students to switch to a public school outside of the district they’re zoned for. This option isn’t allowed in Georgia yet. Georgia lawmakers would need to pass a bill to make it available to families.

How Georgia’s public school transfers work

Parents must contact their local school system to see which schools will accept transfers and for which grades. The Georgia Department of Education provides a database of public school contact information.

Each school system is required to notify parents by July 1 about which schools have space, and many systems post this information on their websites before that date. Most districts only allow transfers at the beginning of the school year, but all can choose to accept students throughout the year.

Parents must then apply for a transfer through their district’s website, at the district office, or at the local school. If more students apply than space is available, some school systems will make decisions on a first-come, first-served basis. Others will hold a random lottery.

Eligibility requirements

A student must be enrolled in a public school in Georgia.

School options

Transfers open up access to other public schools within a student’s school district.
Transfers don’t apply to public schools outside a student’s assigned district. They also don’t apply to non-public schools.
A student who transfers to another public school may continue to attend that school until they’ve completed all grades at the school.

Cost to families

School systems can’t charge tuition for students transferring within their district.
Transportation is the parents’ or guardians’ responsibility.

Five application guidelines to follow:

1. Contact your local school system to see which schools accept transfers and in which grades.

2. Check your school system’s website by July 1. Each system is required to notify parents annually about which schools have space available. State law requires school systems to post this information by July 1, but it’s often available earlier, so consider checking the website as early as April or May.

3. Access the transfer application on your district’s website, at the district office, or at your local school and complete the application (note: some school systems require parents to do this in person at the district office).

4. Application periods can be as short as one to two weeks. For many districts, this application window opens in June or July. In other areas, it can open as early as January. Get in touch with your district or check its website early and often so you don’t miss any deadlines.

5. The school system will notify parents about whether their transfer request was accepted or denied. If more students apply than space is available, school systems will make decisions on a first-come, first-served basis or through a random lottery.

How Georgia can expand public school options

Georgia lawmakers could expand opportunities in the public school system by removing all restrictions on open enrollment and allowing both inter-district and intra-district transfers.

Parents with children in schools across the country are widely in favor of reforms like this. Polling from June 2025 by EdChoice-Morning Consult showed that 78% of parents nationwide—regardless of their political affiliation—support open enrollment.

To set up a successful transfer program, Georgia could look to many other states’ examples. In 2025, the Reason Foundation reported that policymakers in 24 states introduced at least 54 bills that focused on open enrollment, providing more evidence of the strong interest in these policies.

Of Georgia’s neighbors, Florida offers the broadest transfer opportunities to students and their families. The state passed a law in 2016 allowing state-wide open enrollment and required all districts to participate. Through the program, students can transfer from the school they’re zoned for to any public school that has space in their grade level. These transfers allow Florida students to attend the school that’s the best fit for them. They also enable parents to send their children to schools near their jobs, which helps lift barriers to rewarding work.

South Carolina followed suit in 2025 when it passed a bill requiring school districts to implement an inter-district transfer policy once the state’s Department of Education issues guidelines. Intra-district transfers have already been allowed there for some time.

The open enrollment policies in other nearby states vary:

Tennessee: The state currently allows intra-district transfers.
Alabama: Open enrollment is limited and voluntary for school districts.
North Carolina: There is no statewide policy on open enrollment.

To better position Georgia as a leader in education choice, state lawmakers are paying attention to advances in open enrollment like those in Florida and South Carolina.

In Georgia’s 2026 legislative session, the House of Representatives is considering a bill (HB 917) that would significantly expand current intra-district transfer options and also provide inter-district transfer options for Georgia students.

If the bill becomes law, the state will be able to provide families with more educational opportunities and, ultimately, an educational system that better serves every child’s unique situation and needs.

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Key Points

The Georgia Promise Scholarship is a statewide program that empowers parents to access the best education for their child. It creates state-funded scholarships that give eligible families up to $6,500 per student for each school year.
Eligibility is limited to students zoned for low-performing public schools and who meet certain other criteria.
Applications will be open for families during four periods in 2026. Sign up to be notified of application deadlines and tips.

Across the country and in Georgia, parents have been calling for more choice and flexibility in K-12 education. In 2024, Georgia took a major step forward by passing the state’s first-ever education savings account program, the Georgia Promise Scholarship.

The program started during the 2025-2026 school year, and it gives eligible families up to $6,500 per year to access the education opportunity best suited to their child’s needs. Visit the program website for more information on how to apply.

What is the Georgia Promise Scholarship?

The Promise Scholarship gives families financial support to access education opportunities outside the public school system. Families can receive up to $6,500 per year for approved education expenses. This type of program is also known as an education savings account.

How does the Georgia Promise Scholarship work?

The state sets aside the scholarship amount in an account that the parent can direct. Parents can use these funds to choose the education environment that supports their child’s unique learning needs.

When does the Promise Scholarship program open?

There will be four application periods for families in 2026:

March 1-31
May 1-31
August 1-31
November 1-30

Families accepted into the program will receive funding for the 2026-2027 school year. See the Georgia Promise Scholarship website for more details.

What can Georgia families use Promise Scholarships for?

Families can use the funds for a variety of educational expenses, giving them flexibility to choose the best education for their child’s needs. Approved expenses include:

Private school tuition and fees
Tutoring services
Textbooks and curriculums
Education therapies
Education-related technology
Transportation costs

Who can apply for a Promise Scholarship?

To be eligible, families and students must meet the following criteria:

Parents must have lived in Georgia for at least one year, with exceptions for active-duty military families.
The student must be zoned for an eligible public school (one included on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement’s list of the bottom 25% of public schools based on performance).
The student must have been enrolled in a Georgia public school for two consecutive semesters or be a rising kindergarten student.
The student can’t be enrolled in a local school system, charter school, or state charter school while participating in the scholarship program.

The program prioritizes lower-income Georgia families. If applications exceed available slots, priority goes to families with household incomes below 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (roughly $129,000 for a family of four).

Parents must agree to use the accounts only for qualifying educational expenses. Once a child receives a scholarship, they remain eligible through 12th grade, until they enroll in a public school, or until they leave Georgia.

How is the Promise Scholarship amount determined?

Amounts have initially been set at $6,500, which is approximately the average per-pupil amount the state sends to local school districts based on Georgia’s current student funding formula. The final 2026-2027 scholarship amount will be announced soon.

Who does the Georgia Promise Scholarship help?

Parents: Parents know better than anyone that children are unique and that a one-size-fits-all education approach doesn’t work for most kids. Georgia’s Promise Scholarship gives parents financial support to access other education opportunities when the local public school isn’t the best fit.

Students: For families seeking alternatives to under-performing public schools, Promise Scholarships provide an opportunity for students to access other school options, including those that may not be available or affordable otherwise.

Public schools: States with robust education choice programs see better outcomes for all students, including those in the public school system. Education savings account programs, in particular, have a track record of empowering public schools to improve their budgets and increase student achievement.

Are Promise Scholarships the same thing as school vouchers?

No, they’re two different types of programs. School vouchers allow parents to use public education dollars for private school tuition only. Parents can use the Promise Scholarship for a wider range of education expenses, offering families more flexibility.

Are Promise Scholarships the same thing as 529 plans?

No. With a 529 plan, parents are responsible for contributing money to an account to save for their child’s education expenses. Promise Scholarships are state-funded and don’t require parents to contribute any of their own money. Parents can choose to use a Promise Scholarship account for education savings because up to 50% of unused funds can be carried forward to the next school year, but the account doesn’t have the same tax benefits that 529 plans do.

Do other states have programs like Georgia’s Promise Scholarship?

Yes, 18 states have adopted some form of an education savings account program, including all of Georgia’s immediate neighbors.

Alabama passed the CHOOSE Act, which gives parents up to $7,000 annually per student to use for the education option of their choice.
Florida expanded its program to universal school choice.
In a 2023 bipartisan effort, North Carolina opened its education savings account program to all students, putting it on track to be the nation’s second largest program after Florida’s.
South Carolina has adopted nearly universal education opportunity.
In early 2025, Tennessee expanded its Education Freedom Scholarship program to be open to any K-12 student who wants to apply.

Several other states are moving their education savings account programs to a universal eligibility set-up, where every kid has access regardless of income, race, zip code, or other circumstance.

Georgia is paying attention, and legislators are considering options that will grant Promise Scholarship eligibility to more families. During the state’s 2025 legislative session, senators introduced SB 124, which would allow the children of active-duty military families to be eligible for the Promise Scholarship program, even if they aren’t zoned for a low-performing public school. Georgia lawmakers also introduced SB 152, which would grant eligibility to the biological or adopted children of foster parents, even if their local school isn’t under-performing.

These bills didn’t become law in 2025, but they could be reintroduced in the 2026 legislative session. If they move forward, they could give more kids the best possible opportunities at school and in life.

Do Promise Scholarships take money away from Georgia’s public schools?

No. The Promise Scholarship is funded separately from the money allocated to public schools.

Will Promise Scholarships help low-income families?

Yes. Programs like the Promise Scholarship are some of the most equitable education pathways for students. They give low-income families more opportunity to access schooling options that are often only available to families with greater financial resources.

Georgia’s Promise Scholarship is also set up to give lower-income families priority if applications exceed the number of slots available.

Does the Promise Scholarship hurt homeschooling families?

No. There are no provisions in the proposed law that would prevent homeschooling families from continuing down that education path.

In fact, Georgia’s Promise Scholarship could make homeschooling an even more feasible option. Eligible families can use the funds to pay for curriculums, courses, tutoring, or other education resources needed to homeschool.

Does the Promise Scholarship hurt homeschooling families?

No. There are no provisions in the proposed law that would prevent homeschooling families from continuing down that education path.

year in review 2022

As 2022 comes to a close, let’s take a moment to share some of the many accomplishments the Georgia Center for Opportunity achieved with your help this year. Each of these wins contributes to our enduring legacy of helping fellow Georgians live a better life through the power of work, education, and family.

While we’re proud of the year’s progress, we’re also incredibly grateful for your support. Let’s take a look at what we’ve done together.

Work

BETTER WORK is a core part of the GCO’s mission to help vulnerable populations gain the skills needed to thrive in a job and a career. In 2022, we made big strides forward in growing this program.

Our BETTER WORK chapters in Gwinnett County and Columbus experienced significant growth this year. Over 400 people applied to the programs, and we recruited 95 employer partners and 42 mentors. We also began offering on-site service at local cooperative ministries.

Dovetailing with our mission to help our neighbors thrive through work, we seek to reform the social safety-net system to ensure that it doesn’t punish people for working. A large part of this has been through our work on benefits cliffs, which unfairly punish people for moving up the economic ladder. On this front, we rolled 12 states into the program at BenefitsCliffs.org, which now covers one-third of the U.S. population. We also presented to national audiences on benefits cliffs: SNAP congressional testimony, the American Legislative Exchange Council, State Policy Network annual meeting, the Heritage Foundation, True Charity Summit, and the Kentucky legislature benefits cliffs joint committee.

We launched a project in Missouri and North Carolina to advance social safety-net reforms in those states. Additionally, we recruited a congressional sponsor to introduce a bill allowing all states to integrate workforce development into their welfare programs. Both BETTER WORK and our benefits cliffs work are making an impact on a national scale, and we anticipate building more momentum in the coming years.

Education

Expanding opportunity necessarily includes greater access to better education, which directly leads to better careers. During the 2022 session of the Georgia Legislature, the GCO team successfully advocated for a bill that expanded the tuition tax credit scholarship by $20 million dollars. The result: an additional 4,000+ students now have access to this important program.

We also backed a bill that would have created Promise Scholarship Accounts, which would have offered families up to $6,000 a year for approved education expenses. Unfortunately, this bill was voted down in committee, but we are optimistic similar legislation will be passed in the upcoming 2023 session. To advocate for the bill, a GCO marketing campaign resulted in 7,573 calls to lawmakers in support of the bill and 1,050 messages across 21 districts.

“Each of these wins contributes to our enduring legacy of helping fellow Georgians live a better life through the power of work, education, and family.”

Family

A great education and involvement in meaningful work are not sufficient. We also need healthy relationships in order to thrive. That’s why another part of GCO’s mission is to strengthen couples and families. On that front, we recruited more than 500 people to participate in relationship-enrichment training, and we offered the classes in seven public schools and seven nonprofit partner agencies. University of Georgia assessments continue to show our programs improve knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors — all best future predictors of improved relational health.

Looking Ahead to 2023

As 2023 approaches, we’re so excited for what the future holds. With another year comes new opportunities to help not only our fellow Georgians, but people across America to find better work, better education, and stronger family relationships. Again, we thank you for your generous support and look forward to what unfolds in the New Year.

Stagflation (3000 × 1000 px)

Key Points

As of June, 35 states and D.C. have not recovered the number of lost jobs
The labor force has shrunk despite population growth.
Its stated goal of the Federal Reserve remains the same–to reduce inflation to its 2% target, meaning it will take steps to prevent the price level from coming back down. This bad policy goal will burden the working class and the poor and retired persons the most.

It may not matter if federal policy does not change.

We’ve seen some back-to-back encouraging news within the last few weeks. The Employment Situation Report for July showed that the United States finally recovered the number of its lost jobs from the start of the pandemic, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate for July was essentially zero. But digging a little deeper to put the news into perspective reveals real concerns that stagflation will not end anytime soon.

The States Who Are Driving the Job Recovery

On the jobs front, yes, it’s true we’ve recovered the number of lost jobs benchmarked to February 2020 before the drastic impact on the labor market from COVID-19. This indicates we’re on the mend, but the job recovery process has not been the “V” shape hoped for at the beginning of the pandemic, one that would have meant a robust job recovery.

Two-and-a-half years later, the civilian non-institutionalized population base that feeds the labor force grew by 4.8 million. Our own ARIMA Model job forecast shows we are approximately 5.8 million jobs short of where we would have been had the pandemic not happened.

But this is not the case for all 50 states. Astoundingly, four states—Montana, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming—have matched or nearly matched their pre-pandemic ARIMA Model forecasts, effectively eliminating any impact from the pandemic on the number of lost jobs.

In the meantime, the national job recovery to pre-pandemic levels is driven probably by just 15 states who already recovered their number of lost jobs prior to the nation as a whole. These states are Utah, Idaho, Texas, Montana, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, South Dakota, Colorado, Arkansas, Indiana, and Nevada.

As of June, the remaining 35 states and D.C. have not recovered the number of lost jobs. We have to wait another week before we know whether another state slipped onto the list of leading states that helped tip the balance for the national July data.

According to our analysis, a common feature of the leading states is that they tend to have policies that value economic freedom more than the other states do. Incidentally, and for explanatory reasons and not for the purpose of getting political, all but three of the 15 leading states have given political control to the governor’s office and both chambers of the state legislature to the Republican Party.

Jobs Versus People Employed

One problem with job data is that the dataset allows for double counting. If we want to count the number of people employed, it paints a different picture.

The Current Population Survey shows the U.S. is still more than half a million workers short when compared to February 2020. In fact, we had fewer employed persons in July than March of this year, using seasonally adjusted data.

The reason is that the labor force has shrunk despite population growth. This can be seen with the 62.1% labor force participation rate that is more than a percentage point below where it stood in February 2020.

This means that the 3.5% unemployment rate—which now matches its pre-pandemic level—is misleading. The shrinkage of the labor force is distorting the meaning of the metric.

Taken together on a national scale, jobs have recovered but the number of employed persons has not. This can mean only one thing. More people are working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Inflation versus the Price Level

July’s CPI ever-so-slightly decreased. It ticked down 0.2% at an annualized rate–a welcome change from the past 25 months. Just to keep this in perspective, the price level nonetheless increased 14.1% since the start of the pandemic. But there is no need to tell this to average consumers who have been feeling it in their pocketbooks.

Disturbingly, the Federal Reserve shows no interest in doing something about the elevated price level–and who isn’t even discussing it. Its stated goal remains the same–to reduce inflation to its 2% target, meaning it will take steps to prevent the price level from coming back down. This bad policy goal will burden the working class and the poor and retired persons the most.

stagflation

“Disturbingly, the Federal Reserve shows no interest in doing something about the elevated price level–and who isn’t even discussing it. Its stated goal remains the same–to reduce inflation to its 2% target, meaning it will take steps to prevent the price level from coming back down. This bad policy goal will burden the working class and the poor and retired persons the most.”

Fiscal and Regulatory Policy

The Federal Reserve does not stand alone with its bad policy. Congress and the Administration are just as guilty, if not more so.

Excessive fiscal spending also drives up the price level. Worse, increasing business taxes will pull resources from businesses. These resources are needed to produce goods and services that we all use and enjoy. It also enables these very same businesses to pay workers and compensate investors, and it leads to more economic growth and prosperity. Likewise, more excessive regulatory restrictions have similar negative effects on people and the economy.

Increasing business taxes and regulating businesses even more at this time will not help keep prices down. Rather, a good portion of these higher costs will be passed onto consumers. And they will be passed on to consumers to the degree that individual businesses are able to do so. If businesses can’t pass all or even some of those costs on to consumers, then they will be forced to make more difficult decisions, such as cutting back on the number of employees or suspending pay raises to employees. Profits will clearly suffer that may cause a few businesses to scale back or exit the industry altogether. These consequential actions all aggravate stagnation. Add in the price increases and we get more stagflation, not less.

Unfortunately, the President just signed into law the erroneously named Inflation Reduction Act that will do nothing about inflation, but it will hike business taxes and increase regulations that will only worsen the economic situation.

Congress and the Administration need to start following the lead from the states who are doing it right. Only pro- growth policies relying on innovation and production organically sprouted from within the economy will help us out of this mess, and it won’t work if politicians think that means taking money from successful businesses or imposing new mandates on others or picking the winners and losers in the economy.

middle school charter school

The COVID19 pandemic has disrupted many things here in America. As every parent knows, one of the major disruptions took place in the realm of education. News has been coming out that among the disruptions in education has been the number of parents choosing to homeschool their kids. Now, we’re not talking about the quasi-homeschooling that all kids experienced when their schools closed and all the kids went to Zoom School. We’re talking about folks who have decided to unenroll their students from public or private school and teach their children themselves, most using a curriculum and resources crafted for homeschooling.

In March, the Census Bureau released results of their Household Pulse Survey. The Survey said…

By fall, 11.1% of households with school-age children reported homeschooling (Sept. 30-Oct. 12). A clarification was added to the school enrollment question to make sure households were reporting true homeschooling rather than virtual learning through a public or private school.

That change represents an increase of 5.6 percentage points and a doubling of U.S. households that were homeschooling at the start of the 2020-2021 school year compared to the prior year.

In Georgia, the Survey additionally reported that a staggering 16% of households were homeschooling last fall. This is also the number of African-American households homeschooling nationwide (up from 3% pre-pandemic!). It will be interesting to see if data for the 2021-2022 school year reflects a return to public and private schools as school buildings reopen, or if these parents decide to continue homeschooling.

The reasons people choose homeschooling vary. Joyce Burgess of the National Black Homeschool Association explains why some African-Americans are choosing to homeschool:

“They’re making these conclusions that peer pressure, they don’t have to be bothered with unnecessary racism, they don’t have to be bothered with bullying, they don’t have to be bothered with negative peer pressure. Some parents have chosen to bring their children home because the virtual setting, some parents just aren’t able to navigate that,” said Burgess.

A recent guest post in Bari Weiss’ Substack provides further insight to why some parents chose homeschooling.

When the covid lockdowns hit in March 2020 — in a matter of a few weeks, some 124,000 public and private schools with 55.1 million students shut down — American families suddenly had to adjust to school-via-screen.

The parents weren’t just upset about all the screen time their kids were logging. They were upset about what they saw on those screens. For the first time, millions of moms and dads could watch, in real time, their children’s teachers teaching.

It was a moment of “parent empowerment,” said Kerry McDonald, a senior fellow at the libertarian Foundation for Economic Education. That’s one way to put it.

Here’s another: “My kindergartener was getting maybe twenty minutes of instruction per day,” said Pauline, a house cleaner in Durham, North Carolina, who prefers using only her middle name to stay anonymous.

Pauline and her child lasted about two weeks in remote school before she decided it was a waste of everyone’s time. After a summer of lockdown, Pauline opted for a “homeschool co-op” with four other families. She was planning to send her now seven-year-old back to public school this year. “Being isolated made my kid miserable,” she said. “And I like public school. I was excited to send my kid there.”

The Delta variant, combined with her husband’s asthma, and the fact that there is no vaccine requirement for teachers in her district threw a wrench in that plan. What started as a short-term solution has morphed into a new normal.

As my colleague Jamie Lord and I recently discussed, this demonstrates the real beauty of the concept of school choice: whether you want kids masked, or unmasked, have your school teach a certain curriculum or not, all parents, no matter their income status or location, should have choices in how and where their kid is educated.

We at the Georgia Center for Opportunity will continue to fight for the right of all parents to choose the best method of educating their children.

By Contributing Scholar: Jonathan Butcher

As a teacher, Julie Young knew her grandson was going to need help outside of the classroom. He had been diagnosed with dyslexia, and he struggled to “retain anything he saw on paper,” Julie said.

Julie and her family live in Arizona, where students with special needs are among the children eligible for education savings accounts. Julie applied for an account and saw results almost immediately.

She used the account to enroll him in occupational therapy, and “within a matter of weeks, I noticed a huge improvement,” Julie says. “His OT helped him memorize his multiplication tables by using silly songs. Every day he made gains in areas that never seemed to stick before,” she says.

With an education savings account, the state deposits a portion of a child’s funds from the state education formula into a private account that parents use to buy education products and services for their children. Lawmakers in six states have enacted such laws, including Georgia’s neighbors: Florida, Tennessee, and Mississippi (Nevada and North Carolina legislators have also passed legislation).

The accounts are distinct from private school scholarships because parents and students can select multiple learning options simultaneously. It’s not unusual for account holders to find a personal tutor for their child, enroll their student in education therapy services, and pay for instructional materials to be used at home. Research from Arizona finds that approximately one-third of account holders use education savings accounts for a set of learning options. More than 40 percent of Florida account holders do so.

Parents want to be able to challenge their students and are prepared to customize their child’s learning experience. One Arizona mom explained that doctors had diagnosed her son as being on the autism spectrum, and despite special services in a district school, he had not learned to talk. After using an account to select a speech therapist of their choosing, “Nathan has learned to talk and he loves learning to spell and even reading books… He’s using complete sentences and even asking and answering questions on a regular basis.”

In Florida, a mom of three adopted children and two biological children uses an account (called Gardiner Scholarships) for her adopted daughter, Elizabeth, to buy instructional materials for use in the home. In an interview, the mom said, “I could reinforce what was and wasn’t happening in the classroom.” Today, Elizabeth has returned to a district school, and her mom says she “wouldn’t be where we are without the intense therapies that I was able to do because of the Gardiner scholarship.”

Now Georgia lawmakers are considering a proposal that would make accounts available to children with special needs, students from low income families, adopted children, students in active duty military families, and children who have been bullied in school.

Experiences from other states demonstrate that students from all walks of life can benefit from the accounts. Arizona lawmakers enacted the nation’s first law in 2011 for children with special needs but have expanded student eligibility since. By the 2015-2016 school year, approximately 40 percent of account holders were children that met other eligibility criteria: 15 percent of account holders were students previously assigned to failing schools; 11 percent were children from military families; 8 percent were adopted students; and 6 percent were Native American students living on tribal lands.

As for Julie, an education savings account has allowed her to set new goals for her grandson. “My grandson understands his limitations,” she says. “He has a long road to go before all of his basic skills are mastered, but I feel confident that so long as we can… [meet] his individual needs, he will succeed in anything he chooses to do.”

Every Georgia parent or loved one wants to have the same vision for success for their child. The education savings account proposal puts these aspirations within reach for thousands of students across the state. Every family wants to have an opportunity like this.

Key Points

Key Points

The Promise Scholarship Program empowers parents to give their kids quality education and brighter futures

Promise Scholarship eligibility focuses on low- and middle-income students

The Georgia Promise Scholarship is an important step for updating our education system

Learn more about the Georgia Promise Scholarship

Key Points

What’s in the Promise Scholarship Bill?

Limits to Promise Scholarships

Student success is at the heart of Promise Scholarships

Related Articles

Key Points

Public school transfers explained

Public school transfers available in Georgia

How Georgia’s public school transfers work

Eligibility requirements

School options

Cost to families

Five application guidelines to follow:

1. Contact your local school system to see which schools accept transfers and in which grades.

How Georgia can expand public school options

Key Points

What is the Georgia Promise Scholarship?

How does the Georgia Promise Scholarship work?

When does the Promise Scholarship program open?

What can Georgia families use Promise Scholarships for?

Who can apply for a Promise Scholarship?

How is the Promise Scholarship amount determined?

Who does the Georgia Promise Scholarship help?

Are Promise Scholarships the same thing as school vouchers?

Are Promise Scholarships the same thing as 529 plans?

Do other states have programs like Georgia’s Promise Scholarship?

Do Promise Scholarships take money away from Georgia’s public schools?

Will Promise Scholarships help low-income families?

Does the Promise Scholarship hurt homeschooling families?

Does the Promise Scholarship hurt homeschooling families?

Resources for families

Resources for schools and service providers

Georgia Promise Scholarship in the news

Work

Education

Family

Looking Ahead to 2023

Key Points

It may not matter if federal policy does not change.

The States Who Are Driving the Job Recovery

Jobs Versus People Employed

Inflation versus the Price Level

Fiscal and Regulatory Policy

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