The school voucher bill faces a larger effort in the Georgia legislature than in previous years.

The school voucher bill, backed by strong Republican leaders, passed in the House by a 91-82 vote Thursday and could head to the Senate for a final vote.

A major part of the law would allow parents of children in the bottom quartile of public school children to get $6,500 to take them out of school and send them to private school or homeschool them.

In introducing the legislation, Interim Speaker Jan Jones said state money is already being used to fund private schools through pre-kindergarten and coeducational programs at private colleges. She noted that the law would give parents another option if their local public school is not a good fit for their children.

But voucher skeptics believe that removing children from public schools will lead to less funding for their development. Last year, skeptics included 16 Republicans who joined nearly all Democrats to block the voucher law.

This year, however, lawmakers added a number of popular education measures, including teacher pay raises and authorizing the use of sales tax increase funds to build or renovate pre-kindergarten facilities.

Despite this, most Democrats believe that the benefits of these measures are not justified by the potential harm the law could cause.

But some Republicans and former Democrats argue that the law gives parents a choice and can help disadvantaged children.

The future of the law will be decided in the Senate, which passed last year's version of the law without additions. Governor Kemp expressed his hope that the law will be signed into law. If that happens, it will go into effect beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.