Senate Committee Endorses Tax Credit Transparency Bill

The committee's vote comes weeks after an Atlanta education policy group suggested some scholarship money was used at two North Cobb religious schools that ban gay, lesbian and bisexual students.

The Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee on Monday unanimously endorsed legislation intended to strengthen a state tax credit scholarship program that has been the target of weeks of criticism. Senate Bill 243 now goes to the Senate for a full vote. If passed, it would "give preferences to students with financial needs," according to a copy of the legislation available on the Georgia General Assembly's website. The committee's vote comes weeks after an Atlanta education policy group suggested in a January report that some scholarship money generated through the tax credit program had been used at religious schools that ban gay, lesbian and bisexual students, including North Cobb Christian School and Shiloh Hills Christian School. …

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Faith First Georgia: Report Promotes Anti-Choice Agenda

Student scholarship organizations "do not receive a single penny of Georgia tax funds," an official said.

Weeks after an Atlanta education policy group suggested that some scholarship money generated through a Georgia tax credit program had been used at religious schools that ban gay, lesbian and bisexual students, a student scholarship organization this week issued its own report. Faith First Georgia in Marietta operates the SSO that makes it possible for needy students to attend Shiloh Hills Christian School, one of two North Cobb schools mentioned in the January 2013 report from the Southern Education Foundation. North Cobb Christian School was the other one. In a statement distributed this week, Faith First Georgia chief legal officer Jonathan Crumly Sr. said that the foundation "misstates the law and misleads the public to promote its …

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Opinion: Southern Education Foundation Misstates Source of Funding

The Atlanta education policy group last month questioned public funding for religious schools that ban gay, lesbian and bisexual students.

Report: Acworth School That Bans Gays Receives State Funding

Schools that "exclude, condemn, and demonize students for who they are and who they accept in their lives" should not receive public funds, according to a report from an Atlanta education policy group.

Some scholarship money generated through a Georgia tax credit program has been used at religious schools that ban gay, lesbian and bisexual students, according to a report released this month. Two of the schools mentioned in the report from the Southern Education Foundation, an Atlanta education policy group, are in North Cobb. At Shiloh Hills Christian School in Kennesaw, the standard of conduct policy is clear. A student who says “I am gay,” “I am a homosexual” or “I like boys” will be expelled. "We are who we are," administrator John Ward said Tuesday afternoon. "We're very open about who we are. There's nothing secret about who we are and what we stand for." And North Cobb Christian School in Acworth "reserves the right to refuse …

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