Private school certificates are barely passed in the Georgia legislature.

The GeorgiaHouse of Representatives on Thursday passed a controversial bill to provide private school vouchers with funds up to $6,500 to help low-performing public school students transfer to private schools.

The bill passed in the Republican-controlled House 91-82, which is the minimum number of votes to pass it in the 180-member chamber. The legislation must then return to the state Senate, which passed it last year, as House Republican leadership made several changes to the measure.

Some changes in the House are aimed at limiting the financial impact of the voucher program on the state's general fund budget. It prohibits spending more than 1 percent of Georgia's Basic Quality Education Fund on vouchers, a cap currently set at $140 million a year.

In an effort to target vouchers to low- and moderate-income Georgia residents, only students from families with incomes at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty limit - currently $120,000 a year for a family of four - would be eligible for the program. The cap will only be raised if the General Assembly appropriates more money for vouchers.

"A responsible piece of legislation has been introduced that expands educational options for children," House Speaker Jan Jones, R-Milton, told her colleagues. "I have rarely met ordinary citizens who would like fewer options."

House Democrats said private school vouchers are not the way to help the 90 percent of Georgia students who attend public schools they say are underfunded, even though the state has fully funded the Basic Quality Education Fund for six of the last seven years. "Full funding does not equal adequate funding," said Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta. "Vouchers simply take funds away from public education," added Rep. Miriam Paris, D-Macon.

Rep.

Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, rejected the idea that offering vouchers for private schools would financially harm public schools. He said Georgia Public Schools has $6 billion in accounts. "To argue that there are not enough funds for targeted investments is intellectually dishonest," he said.

The House version of the bill also includes a number of provisions unrelated to vouchers in any way. It would lock in all teacher pay raises that lawmakers approved starting in 2019, Governor Brian Kemp's first year in office, which resulted in a $6,500 per year increase in teacher salaries. To increase enrollment in pre-kindergarten classes, the bill also allows public schools to use state funds to build new pre-kindergarten facilities. The law would take effect during the 2025-26 school year and expire at the end of June 2035.