Celebrating School Choice Week, and landmark school choice advances in Georgia

This year marks the 15th anniversary of National School Choice Week as well as an important moment in the history of the school choice movement. Educational freedom and opportunity has come a long way in 15 years, and even compared to a year ago, school choice in Georgia is in a very different position. It also faces a different set of challenges.

Last year saw the landmark passage of Promise Scholarship Accounts, which, beginning in fall 2025, will provide $6,500 per school year to be used by participating K-12 students toward non-public education options including tuition, tutoring, transportation and more.

Promise Scholarships offer unprecedented opportunity and access to quality education for Georgia students and families, but it was just one of many school choice victories across the country.

Since the establishment of National School Choice Week, the educational freedom movement has grown from a small group of educators and activists into a national phenomenon that has changed the way we talk about education.

Last year, Gov. Brian Kemp’s official acknowledgement of National School Choice Week was seen as a signal both of the movement’s importance, and that Georgia was ready to enact school choice reform. This year, 17 governors and the U.S. Department of Education, under the new administration of President Trump, acknowledged School Choice Week as well. The Department of Education announced its recognition, “in line with President Trump’s unwavering commitment to expanding school choice and ensuring all American students have access to high-quality education.”

In keeping with this commitment, the president signed an executive order this week that, among other things, directs Department of Education grants to prioritize school choice and creates guidance for states to use federal formula funds for K-12 scholarships.

Both symbolic and practical endorsements of school choice policies follow changes made across the country. As of the beginning of 2025, 11 states offer universal school choice, and 21 states, including Georgia, have limited school choice options.

The progress made by the school choice movement was made possible by years of hard work and political courage, but much of its recent momentum came in response to the handling of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many parents saw the importance of educational freedom and having greater decision-making power when they were faced with harmful policies from their schools and districts.

Even now, almost five years removed from the start of the pandemic, demand for more options among families remains high. According to a survey published in January by the School Choice Awareness Foundation, over 60% of parents of K-12 students considered sending their children to a different school last year. This notably skewed toward younger parents, parents of younger students and Black and Hispanic parents. While demand has expectedly leveled off after the pandemic (percentage of searchers is down from 72% last year, but up from 52% in 2022), it still reflects a nationwide appetite for educational access and opportunity.

While Georgia’s passage of Promise Scholarships last year was an important culmination of a years-long effort, the job is far from finished. One item still on the to-do list is fully funding the Promise Scholarship (which Kemp’s budget proposal would do) and, as demand grows, raising the cap to accommodate more students. 

Of note, only students in attendance zones of schools performing in the bottom 25% academically are eligible to receive a Promise Scholarship. The state should consider expanding the amount offered, and more importantly, it should work to make school choice universal. However, the scope of school choice policy goes beyond this program, and the demand for educational freedom is demonstrated elsewhere.

Charter schools, for example, have proven to be very attractive options for Georgia parents, and the state could incentivize local districts to approve new charter schools. They currently serve 65,000 students in the state, although thousands more are stuck on waitlists. Despite this, only one locally approved charter school has opened in the past five years. New charters can also be approved by the state, but this is a costlier process that limits families’ choices.

Waitlists also demonstrate demand for choice when it comes to Georgia’s tax credit scholarship program. Citizens and businesses can use this program to donate to a qualified student scholarship organization and receive a credit against their taxes. Students can then receive scholarships to attend private school. This program is currently capped at $120 million and serves roughly 20,000 students. While this may not seem like a significant share of Georgia’s K-12 population, it certainly isn’t for lack of demand. The cap on donations is always met after only a few days. Raising this cap would both improve access for students and save the state money.

There are also opportunities to expand school choice within public schools. Georgia allows for public school students to apply to transfer to a different public school in their district, and in some cases to a school in a different district. However, this process is often unnecessarily burdensome for transferring students, and it notably lacks transparency.

As we reflect on the remarkable strides made toward achieving educational freedom over the past several years, we also acknowledge that keeping that momentum will take resilient effort and attention. 

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