Georgia makes many more students than expected eligible for school vouchers

Hundreds of thousands of students in Georgia will be eligible for $6,500 vouchers to pay for private school tuition or home-schooling expenses — far more than many legislators expected — under an expansive interpretation of the law by the new agency running the program.

Students who attend the lowest performing 25% of schools under Georgia’s academic rating system are supposed to be eligible to apply.

But the Georgia Education Savings Authority, a body created by the law, wrote rules saying any student in such a school’s attendance zone is eligible, even if they don’t attend that school. For example, if a middle school is on the list, elementary and high school students who live in that zone can also apply.