Guest: Glenn Delk

School vouchers gained attention in 1993 when attorney Glenn Delk, president of Georgia Parents for Better Education, publicized a 1961 law that provided education grants to help families avoid desegregated public schools and attend a public or private school of choice. Section 20-2-640-650 of the Georgia Code specifies that

Every child between the ages of six and 19 years residing in this state...who is otherwise eligible and qualified to attend the elementary and secondary public schools of the local school system wherein such child resides shall, in lieu of attending the public schools of such local school system be eligible to receive an education grant to be expended for the purpose of paying or otherwise defraying the cost of tuition at a nonsectarian private school....

Delk declared that the law “may have been passed for the wrong reasons, but we hope to use it for the right reasons. I think all parents should have a choice about whether they send their children to public or private schools. The people who can benefit the most are those who don’t have a choice--low income black parents.” State officials deemed the law “unusable,” but strong public interest encouraged then-Lieutenant Governor Pierre Howard, a Democrat, to call for special public hearings. In 1997, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that there was no funding mechanism available to provide the vouchers under the old law. (Reference: The Heritage Foundation) Other websites mentioned during the Glenn Delk interview: allchildrenmatter.org allianceforschoolchoice.org csfga.org