Participants Celebrate Impact of Largest Cap Increase Since Program Inception

Georgia’s Education Expense tax credit is thriving through the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program (GOAL), the state’s leading student scholarship organization. On Thursday, September 13th, representatives from GOAL’s 136 participating private schools gathered at Perimeter School in Johns Creek to celebrate the achievements and impact of this program. 

After a welcome from the host school’s Headmaster, Bobby Scott, GOAL President Lisa Kelly reviewed the program results from 2018, and discussed expectations for 2019. The theme of Kelly’s presentation was celebration. “This may be the best gathering of GOAL participating school officials we have ever had. We celebrated the impact of the upcoming cap increase on all constituents – including taxpayer contributors, Georgia students and their families, and communities all over the State. We are grateful to our special guests who have invested tremendous amounts of energy in creating, expanding, and preserving this invaluable program,” said Kelly.

Attendees then heard from the first keynote speaker, Dr. Ben Scafidi, professor of economics and director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University. Scafidi discussed the HB 217 provision requiring State auditors to evaluate Education Expense tax credit program in five years to determine its financial and economic impact to the State, which, if conducted in a fair and objective manner, could reveal significant savings to the State and benefit to the public. Scafidi spoke about why this program is worthy public policy that makes fiscal sense for Georgia. Scafidi received the GOAL Policymaker Award in recognition for his relentless pursuit and promotion of sound educational policy.

The conference’s next esteemed guest was State Representative John Carson, sponsor of HB 217, which increases the annual cap on education tax credits from $58 million to $100 million for the next decade. Rep. Carson received a standing ovation as he took the stage. He shared his experience in getting this bill passed earlier this year, and his excitement for the impact it will have on thousands of Georgia families in years to come. Carson received a gift of appreciation of matted and framed photos of the HB 217 bill signing, signed by scholarship recipient students from all over Georgia.

The final keynote speaker was Tim Keller, who leads the Institute for Justice’s Educational Choice Team, overseeing a group of attorneys who help policymakers design constitutionally defensible educational choice programs and who defend educational choice programs in courtrooms nationwide. Keller spoke about his experience intervening in nine lawsuits to protect tax-credit scholarships in court, including a case that prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court. He received the GOAL Impact Award in recognition for his unsurpassed contribution to protecting and expanding educational liberty.

Guests attended two breakout sessions during the conference during which they heard from panelists and were encouraged to share their own experiences. One session addressed legislative and proposed federal tax changes to the program; the other session focused on effective GOAL fundraising strategies. 

Finally, GOAL presented 2017 and 2018 Achievement Awards to various private schools and private school administrators for their outstanding efforts on this program.

“We were thrilled to be able to host this event at Perimeter School,” said Kate Saylor, Director of Marketing & Communications for GOAL. “It is one of the absolute highlights of our year to gather with GOAL participating school officials from all over the State. We are so grateful for the support from Perimeter School, which helped make this one of our best-ever conferences!”

To learn more about the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program, please visit www.goalscholarship.org. 

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Media Contact: Kate Saylor at ksaylor@goalscholarship.org or 770-828-4032