Having read your blog entry of June 19, 2008 titled The Georgia Family Council and Tax Policy in Georgia, I feel compelled to respond.

The first thing that I must address is your decision to question (really, besmirch) the motives of Georgia Family Council in its support of HB 1133 – without the courtesy of reading the report we provided to you or, by your own admission, doing little in the way of research on the issue. While I am tempted to break my own rule, I will presume good will on your part and assume that your criticism is not merely ad hominem.

Contrary to your criticism, Georgia Family Council is truly interested in advancing efforts (whether legislative or otherwise) that strengthen families in Georgia. An important part of this work is supporting legislation that will allow children to obtain the best education they can – and especially those children who are in failing schools and whose parents do not now have the means to choose anything else. That is our motive.

And, if you had researched our organization, listened to speeches our organization president has given, or taken the time to read the content on our website (www.georgiafamily.org), I believe you would see that our motive is consistent and in plain view. You could also take a look at our Center for an Educated Georgia website (www.educatedgeorgia.org) to actually find out what motivates us to be involved in education.

At its heart, the real thrust of your argument seems to be this: If a family is unable to afford the cost of private education, they should be forced to, in your words, “join the rest of us down at the public school.”

The problem with your reasoning is that not all public schools offer the same quality of education. Some, in fact, do not offer adequate education for all their students.

While many of our public schools in Georgia are wonderful – and many families have the ability to move to those districts with good public schools - there are many families who are locked into sending their children to poorly performing public schools because they cannot afford private education AND they cannot afford to move to a district with better public schools.

For these families and their children, your argument offers nothing in the way of hope. Instead, it says to these children, in essence, “the fact that you’re in a terrible school and have no other options is your tough luck.”

In contrast, HB 1133 offers hope to these children and their families. It says that any family can apply for a scholarship to send their child to a better school. Instead of relegating children to play the hand that life has dealt them, HB 1133 provides them with options.

Is HB 1133 a panacea? No. Georgia Family Council has never claimed that it is. Is it a step in the right direction? We clearly believe that it is.

And do we believe it is too much to ask for our state to commit less than one quarter of one percent of its annual budget to offer some hope to these students? No, we think it’s a very modest and reasonable thing to do.

Like you, we believe that failing public schools should be reformed. However, unlike you, we do not believe this debate should be most concerned with reforming a “system.” We believe, instead, that this debate must be about children and how best to insure that they receive a good education today.

We do not believe that children currently in failing schools should have to remain there for years as the subjects in an experiment to reform a system. Those students need options NOW – to do anything less is to deprive them of a bright future (and the higher wages and the more stable families that we would all like to see).

As one mom said, “It’s too important to me to sacrifice their education. I get one shot at it. If I don’t pay very close attention to how my boys get educated then I’ve lost an opportunity to make them the best they can be in this world.”

Sincerely,

Eric Cochling, JD, MPA
VP of Public Policy
Georgia Family Council