Georgia must increase access to educational opportunities for all parents

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

If National School Choice Week is truly about honoring family choice, then it is time for Georgia to take a meaningful next step. We must create publicly supported, choice-neutral infrastructure that serves all families — including homeschoolers — without forcing them into a particular system.

A logical starting point is expanding access to Georgia’s first Education Savings Account style program, the Georgia Promise Scholarship. The program provides eligible families up to $6,500 per student per year for qualified educational expenses through a parent-controlled account. Funds can be used for private school tuition, tutoring, textbooks, curriculum, therapies and more. This structure reflects an important principle of school choice: public education dollars should follow the student into the learning options the family chooses.

However, current eligibility limits prevent this promise from being fully realized. Students must live in the attendance zone of one of the lowest-performing 25% of public schools. Students must also have been enrolled in a Georgia public school for two consecutive semesters. These restrictions exclude thousands of families who are already educating their children responsibly outside traditional systems.

This gap is not theoretical to me. I am the homeschooling mother of four children. I have homeschooled three of them to college and now have my first official college graduate. I have navigated high school and college preparation, Georgia Futures, PSAT and AP test preparation and transcript development. I created an eclectic homeschool experience using nearly every curriculum imaginable, from Abeka to Georgia Virtual School. I coordinated meaningful extracurriculars including Science Olympiad and Arts Honor Society, all while serving as the primary educator in my home.

I have an entrepreneurial spirit, what I often describe as an academic hunter-gatherer. I know how to find resources, test approaches and piece together opportunities. But I also know that this level of confidence, time and institutional knowledge is not shared by every homeschooling family. What made my journey sustainable was access to guidance beyond myself.

I received successful support in creating a state-accredited transcript and navigating high school counseling through a Non-Traditional Educational Center. These centers serve students engaged in independent study or homeschooling and operate as members of a broader nontraditional learning network. A student enrolled in a Non-Traditional Educational Center may spend no more than 60% of instructional time at the center, preserving parental authority while offering professional support.

Georgia should remove the public school enrollment requirement from the Georgia Promise Scholarship and allow all students enrolled in a home study program with a Declaration of Intent on file with the state to access ESA funds. At the same time, the state should expand funding eligibility to include Non-Traditional Educational Centers.

These centers are not schools. They function more like libraries or community colleges for K-12 learners. Families opt into specific services such as transcript oversight, testing administration, labs, tutoring or counseling without surrendering educational autonomy. While the Georgia Accrediting Commission already promotes high-quality instruction, many accredited homeschool cooperatives and hybrid programs still do not qualify as providers under the Georgia Promise Scholarship.

Programs like Northeast Independent Preparatory Academy demonstrate what is possible. For 25 years, NIPA has served homeschool families, guided transcript creation, supported college admissions, and helped students access Georgia Hope and Zell Miller scholarships. Its graduates have been accepted to institutions including Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT, Georgia Tech and others. The College Board has entrusted NIPA with administering the PSAT and NMSQT. Yet programs like this remain excluded from full participation.

Finally, homeschool leaders must have a seat at the table. Currently, membership to the Parent Review Committee is only eligible for parents receiving an ESA. Policy should be shaped by those living it.

Why does this matter, especially in Georgia? Because real choice is not simply moving children from one building to another. For families with neurodivergent learners, advanced students or children who have been culturally marginalized, real choice means customization. Homeschooling families pay taxes, contribute to communities and shoulder education costs with minimal public support. That creates quiet inequity.

By investing in shared infrastructure rather than systems competition, Georgia can build a cooperative education ecosystem where public schools, private schools and homeschool families are partners. True school choice begins when we trust parents not just to choose, but to create.

Nicole P. Doyle, co-founder of the Georgia Black Home Educators Network, hosts the Flourish Family Homeschool Conference and serves on Eastside Academic Studies’ board. She homeschools her four children with her husband, Willie.