Local reaction to

voucher overtures varies according to the source.

Public school

officials are cautious; only one private school

administrator could be described as approving.

Debbie Condon,

recently reelected chairman of the Fayette County

Board of Education, said recently that the board

has not discussed any voucher or early HOPE

scholarship plans, but is waiting to hear more

about what is being proposed in the current

General Assembly.

She expressed

doubt, however, that Fayette would benefit from

any "equalization of funding," as these

plans have been called.

"There are so

many different kinds of vouchers," she said.

"We've been more concerned with the funding

part of it and how that will affect us. Fayette

County stands to lose a great deal of money. [A

study] commission has recommended that

equalization grants be provided to only 75

percent of the school systems in Georgia. We

would be among the 45 [districts] excluded.

"Right now we

get about $3 million of that. It would require

elimination of remedial programs in elementary

and middle schools," she continued,

"and would reduce central office positions

from six to two funded by the state. Now we get

$268 per student for facilities operations from

the state - that's maintenance and utilities

- and that would push up to $300 per pupil.

But the most serious threat would be the

withdrawal of the $3 million equalization

grant."

Condon explained

that the state bases the amount of funding

returned to a county by determining income

averages. "Some small rural counties

wouldn't have the tax base the more wealthy

counties do. There's a formula - say, for

example, we sent $12 million to the state, we'd

get back, say, $3 million because we were among

the more affluent."

She added that the

defeat of the special sales tax for schools in

last year's referendum could result in a punitive

response by the state: "Do we keep pumping

money into systems that vote down SPLOST and

won't pay their own way?" the state board

might reason.

County school

superintendent Dr. John DeCotis is also cautious

about the subject of vouchers because there is

not yet a clear definition.

"There are so

many different kinds," he said.

"Several states have experimented with

vouchers that would allow students to go from one

public school to another, or to a non-public

setting. If we'd accept vouchers, we would not

have the space if students from another system

were allowed into ours."

Transfers already

occur within the district, he noted, when space

permits and a compelling reason exists.

DeCotis said he

believes that charter schools offer a good

alternative because they are "still in

public accountability," while private

schools are not. Complicating the issue would be

requirements to protect taxpayers from fraud.

"If you give

money to a school that discriminates by gender,

or against the disabled, how do you protect those

students who are trying to get in and are turned

down," he continued, "or ensure that

the constitution is being followed?

"I'm certainly

open to the idea of giving vouchers, but it is a

delicate balancing act."

The sole voice of

enthusiasm came from Sallie McQuaid, new

principal at Our Lady of Victory Catholic School

near Tyrone, who calls herself a "proponent

of vouchers":

"[Vouchers]

would be the most wonderful, fantastic thing in

the world," she said. "Education across

the board is getting very, very expensive. The

biggest bill on the tax bill will be the school

bill. Schools are having a tough time even here

in Fayette County - all those trailers and

new schools needed to accommodate families.

"It would be a

marvelous thing if parents would choose the

school they want their children to go to,"

she added. "I'd like to direct some of my

tax dollars in that way. It's working marvelously

well in some of the Northern states."

She also approves

another development in the public sector, charter

schools. "Certainly charter schools are

another alternative; parents are looking closely

at education of their children. To that, what can

I say but hooray, hooray?"

Her counterpart at

St. Paul Lutheran Church School in Peachtree City

is Gordon Stuckert. His was the only renunciation

based on the origin of the funding.

"Would we

favor vouchers?" he reflected. "I would

have to look at [the plan]. But for me it would

depend on the source, such as gambling."

Asked whether that

meant he objected to lottery-based revenues,

Stuckert said he does, but added that he is not

the only one who would make a decision for a

school operated by a congregation. "That's

personal, that's me," he said.

Another large

segment of Fayette County children are being home

schooled. Ken Patterson, director of the Georgia

Home Education Association based in Fayetteville,

said his organization favors another approach.

"We would

rather have a tax credit than a voucher," he

wrote in an e-mail responding to a request for

home schoolers' input. "With any government

handout, there are or will be strings attached.

For the home schooler, the vouchers would have to

be limited to school materials - equipment,

tutors or tuition."

Fair's fair,

however. "If vouchers become available for

government and private school families, then they

must be available to home school families,"

he said.

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