If Stacy Abrams is elected Governor of Georgia, the school lobby is in big trouble. Not only would she be the first African-American Governor of Georgia, she would eliminate the state’s new voucher program. She might have help from rural Republicans, who are not thrilled to have vouchers in their communities where the public schools are the center of community life.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2018/09/27/georgia-school-choice-backers-worry-about-governors-race-353635

By Caitlin Emma

With help from Mel Leonor and Kimberly Hefling

GEORGIA SCHOOL CHOICE BACKERS WORRY ABOUT GOVERNOR’S RACE: School choice hasn’t played prominently in the competitive Georgia governor’s race, but advocates are quietly growing concerned about the fate of the state’s tax credit scholarship program that provides nearly 14,000 students with private school scholarships. I have the story here.

— Georgia is one of 18 states with such a program, which awards individuals and corporations with a tax credit in exchange for a donation to an organization that awards the scholarships. Democrat Stacey Abrams has proposed eliminating it while her Republican opponent, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, has said he’ll preserve it.

— A poll earlier this month showed the two were virtually tied and an internal poll released by the Abrams campaign in the last week had her pulling ahead.

— Easier said than done? If Abrams wins, she’ll likely face a Republican-controlled state legislature that would block any effort to dismantle the program. But political analysts say that Abrams — a former state lawmaker who’s known as a skilled negotiator — could garner support from some Republicans who’ve raised concerns about school choice in the Peach State, making it a potential bargaining chip to push through her policy priorities. The Abrams campaign didn’t respond to follow-up questions about how she’d seek to eliminate the program.

— “There’s a general fear,” said Buzz Brockway, a former state legislator who’s now vice president of public policy for the Georgia Center for Opportunity, which advocates for school choice. “We’re hoping this is one of those things that’s said on the campaign trail and never materializes.”

— Republican support for Georgia’s school choice program isn’t universal. Rural Republicans in particular have questioned how it would benefit their constituents. “The fight always boils down to school officials feeling like it’s taking money out of their pocket,” Brockway said. He said he doesn’t believe that’s the case, but it’s “an argument that holds sway with a lot of Republicans, too.”

— The program just cleared a major hurdle last year after the state Supreme Court ruled that it doesn’t violate the state’s constitution. And state lawmakers, after a year of difficult negotiations, agreed in March to raise the cap on tax credits for donations from $58 million to $100 million in 2019. Kemp had originally proposed doubling the cap. Since the state legislature lifted the cap on tax credits to $100 million, his campaign said he’ll seek to preserve the cap.