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Martha Zoller and Rep Todd Jones on air, March 27, 2023 Re: SB 233 “school choice” #BrianKemp

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In the closing days of the 2023 push for “school choice” in Georgia, Martha Zoller had Rep Todd Jones on her show yesterday (here). He is carrying this year’s school choice bill in the House. I listened in for the first time in awhile (I am a Scott Ryfun fan and a frequent guest).

Martha Zoller

We were happy (surprised) to hear Rep Jones finally mention illegal aliens as related to the “educational freedom”, “put parents in charge,” “Promise Scholarship” topic. We were disappointed that he didn’t mention that in the current version of SB 233 there is no language that excludes illegal alien parents from the state benefit process or serving on an oversight committee.

There seemed to be some confusion on Martha’s part about what informed, pro-enforcement watchers were saying about illegal aliens as related to being eligible students.

Martha found time in her show to mention me and suggest that I arrange an interview on her show. We were not aware of that possibility. The usual process of radio show hosts having guests on for interviews is that the host invites the guest. But it seems that Martha has some resentment towards me for not memory-holing Gov Brian Kemp’s defiant betrayal on his 2018 campaign promises regarding “criminal illegals,” the promised  public registry of criminal illegals, the “Brian Kemp Track and Deport plan” and his pledge on ending “sanctuary cities.”

We now have sanctuary counties in Georgia.

  • Related: Under Gov Brian Kemp, Georgia is a sanctuary state for “criminal illegals”

Martha now says Kemp has done a lot on illegal immigration in Georgia, just different things than he said he would do – while continuing to try to divert listener’s attention to “the border.” During the last campaign Martha explained that Kemp had not done what he promised because things had changed at the border (even more illegal aliens crossing). We’ll get to all that and more after the legislative session is over.

Meantime, I am happy to be on Martha’s show anytime she wants me on. I wonder if I should regard  it as a hostile interview.

Dog & Pony Show prediction: SR 85 – Senate Republicans to consider ways to reduce pesky “onerous and burdensome” occupational licensing practices

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Update: SR 85 was put on the Senate Consent Calendar for Study Committees which was approved on March 27, 2023. Vote record here (Senate vote 295).

The 2021 House version of this effort did not allow public comment and handpicked all advocate “witnesses.”

 

 

 

From experience, we predict a star and regular “expert witness” will be media darling, illegal alien and FWD.us lobbyist Jaime Rangel.

Jaime Rangel, illegal alien and FWD.us lobbyist in the GA Capitol.

Did you know that Georgia apparently “has some of the country’s more burdensome occupational licensing laws and that onerous occupational licensing requirements can inhibit economic mobility, limit job prospects, and hinder small businesses?”

That is the opinion of the sponsors  of SR 85 under the Gold Dome. They are all Republicans.

At the “request” of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, these GOP state senators want to create a ‘Senate Occupational Licensing Study Committee’  to decide how to “reform”occupational licensing  and “streamline processes, reduce barriers to work, and eliminate unnecessary rules and regulations.” They plan on a series of meetings to hear from the special interest community on how this can be done and maybe how other states have handled “reforming” this “onerous” system.

What, you may ask is the “onerous and burdensome” part of the Georgia occupational licensing system? In large part it refers to the fact that Georgia has laws in place that require verification of lawful presence for occupational and professional licensing. Shorter: Dismantle the laws – periodically obeyed and enforced – that are aimed at keeping black market labor out of Georgia’s workforce.

This writer has been working on the verification law, OCGA 50-36-1 since 2006.

I know because I followed this same dog and pony show study committee process when the House produced it in 2021. Then it was part of a study committee dedicated to “Innovative Ways to Maximize Global Talent.” It is the work of the partnership between the Georgia Chamber of Commerce et al and a leftist group known as the Coalition of Refugee Services. That partnership is known as Business and Immigration for Georgia or “BIG.”

  • Related: The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.”
Darlene C. Lynch of “BIG’. Photo, Dustin Inman Society

A “Progressive” woman named Darlene C. Lynch works for both CRSA and the “BIG Partnership” and organized and ran the 2021 Georgia House Special Committee “Innovative ways to Maximize Global Talent” that saw three 2021 Summer and Fall meetings – with two in Georgia’s public colleges. Back then the study committee produced the impetus for a bill (HB 932) that would have eliminated the current twelve month residency period before a (public) college -bound student could qualify for instate tuition. The bill only applied to foreigners migrating into Georgia. Americans moving here from other states were not covered under that measure. They would still pay the much higher tuition rate in their first year living here. About three times as much as a student who migrated here from Afghanistan, for example.

For clarity: The goal was and is for some foreigners (example) to be able to migrate into Georgia and qualify for instate tuition the same day while Americans moving here are required to be residents for a year before that could access the same tuition rate.

  • Related: For academic year 2020-2021, the average tuition & fees for Colleges in Georgia was $4,739 for in-state and $17,008 for out-of-state. Americans who relocate here would pay the higher amount in their first year of residence. Newly arrived foreigners would pay the lower amount. That is a difference of $1226.90. 

That same effort is back in today’s General Assembly in both the Senate and House. 

That 2021 special study committee was created by a resolution that passed unanimously in the House at the end of the 2021 session. Rep Wes Cantrell was the sponsor of the resolution (be sure to see all cosponsors) and served as the chairman of the agenda-driven committee that took zero pubic comment and arranged the witnesses.

Some of the agenda items from the hand-picked, pre-screened witnesses at the 2021 special committee mentioned above:

  • Changing state law so as to allow foreigners to be law enforcement officers in Georgia
  • Reciprocal agreements on occupational licensing rules with other states and foreign nations – put a different way, other states and nations would decide who was eligible to be receive occupational and professional licenses in Georgia.
  • “Relaxing” state law that requires immigration verification of applicants for occupational and professional licensing.
  • Lower tuition rates in public colleges for illegal aliens living in Georgia with DACA  status than the rate Americans and legal immigrants from other states pay.
  • Removing the existing 12 month residency waiting period before new Georgia residents can access instate tuition in public colleges for refugees – but not for Americans moving here from other states.
  • Reducing the educational period to become a medical doctor by two years, student loan forgiveness for foreign medical students and “relaxing the immigration issues for foreign medical graduates.”
  • Creating a new state bureaucracy to accommodate “an office or a division of cultural and linguistic responsiveness.”

I lost track of the number of times “…the number one state for business” was tossed out.

I covered the meetings extensively for the subscription news outlet Insider Advantage Ga and also posted those reports here.

 

 

School choice – SB 233: GOP lawmakers ignore warnings on attention to immigration status of “parents’ at their political peril

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Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens have been Georgia residents for more than a year.

Rep Will Wade offered a plea for passage from the Well before Pro Tem Jan Jones moved to table the illegal alien -friendly measure. Two minute audio from House floor:

Most conservative Georgians do not want illegal aliens to be able to apply for any non-fed mandated benefit, direct the destination of state funds, be reimbursed for out-of pocket expenses, or serve on a “Parent Review” committee that determines what expenses are eligible to be considered as a “qualified education expense” under state law.

Despite more than a year of warnings to Republican lawmakers under the Gold Dome, language in the pending “school choice” bill does not require “parents” (who make the application to begin the proposed new state grant process) to be U.S. citizens or have legal immigration status.

  • Best solution: Amend the bill to require “parents” to be verified as U.S citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents (green card holders) as is the well-disguised requirement for student eligibility.
  • A weaker (partial) solution: Clearly designate the scholarship as a “state grant’ in the bill and add sentence that requires verification under OCGA 50-36-1.

(Beginners guide: We think the “Promise Scholarship” should be regarded as a “state grant” and thereby a public benefit under Georgia’s verification of lawful presence law OCGA 50-36-1. We have repeatedly urged all concerned to make that clear (or not) in the bill. If it is a state grant, the applicant (the “parent”) would be required to complete the prescribed verification process to swear to “lawful presence.”)

Below is another line-by-line write up on part of the role of “parents” in the administration of and participation in the proposed new state “Promise Scholarship.”

Modified structure.

SB 233 As amended by the House Education committee

* LC 49 1450

See also LC 49 1458S and LC 1458S/hrcs (lines may not exactly match in later versions).

Line #

37  ‘Parent‘ means a biological parent, legal guardian, custodian, or other person with

38 legal authority to act on behalf of a student.

 

64  (G) Other expenses authorized by the State Board of Education or the commission; or

65  (H) Individual education expenses authorized by a majority of the parent review

66  committee provided for in Code Section 20-2B-6.

 

72  (a) A student shall qualify for a promise scholarship account under this chapter if:

73  (1) The student’s parent resides within Georgia and has been a Georgia resident for at

74  least one year; provided, however, that the one-year requirement shall not apply if the

75  student’s parent is an active duty military service member stationed in Georgia within the

76  previous year;

 

201  (3) The commission shall develop a system for parents to direct account funds to

202  participating schools and service providers by electronic funds transfer, automated

203 clearing-house transfer, or another system that the commission finds to be commercially

204 viable, cost-effective, and easy for parents of participating students to use. The

205 commission shall not adopt a system that relies solely on reimbursing parents for

206 out-of-pocket expenses, but may determine certain qualified education expenses that must

207 require reimbursement or preapproval for purchase. The commission is authorized to

208 qualify private financial management firms to manage the payment system.

 

231  (a) To assist in the determination of whether certain expenses meet the requirements to be

232  considered a qualified education expense under this chapter, a parent review committee

233  shall be established.

234  (b)(1) The committee shall comprise one person with relevant knowledge, skills, and

235  abilities and eight parents of participating students appointed by the president of the

236  commission. Four of the parents shall reside in local school systems with student

237  enrollment greater than 10,000, and four of the parents shall reside in local school

238  systems with student enrollment less than 10,000.

239  (2)(A)Members of the committee shall serve for staggered three-year terms and may

240  be reappointed; provided, however, that no individual shall be permitted to serve more

241  than three terms.

Illegal immigration: What is “parole?”

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What is parole?

USCIS uses its discretion to authorize parole. Parole allows an individual, who may be inadmissible or otherwise ineligible for admission into the United States, to be paroled into the United States for a temporary period. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allows the secretary of homeland security to use their discretion to parole any noncitizen applying for admission into the United States temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. (See INA section 212(d)(5).)

An individual who is paroled into the United States has not been formally admitted into the United States for purposes of immigration law.

Parole is not intended to be used solely to avoid normal visa processing procedures and timelines, to bypass inadmissibility waiver processing, or to replace established refugee processing channels.

Length of Parole

If authorized, we will specify the duration of parole for a temporary period of time to accomplish the purpose of the parole. For example, if parole is requested to attend a civil court proceeding between private parties, we may authorize parole for the period of time necessary to attend the proceedings. We typically grant parole for no more than 1 year, although we may grant parole for a longer duration depending on the reason for the parole.

Parole ends on the date the parole period expires or when a parolee departs the United States or acquires an immigration status, whichever occurs first. In some cases, we may place conditions on parole, such as reporting requirements. We may revoke parole at any time and without notice if we determine that parole is no longer warranted or a parolee fails to comply with any conditions of parole.

Work Permits

We may, at our discretion, grant a parolee temporary employment authorization, if it is not inconsistent with the purpose and duration of their parole. You may request employment authorization after being paroled into the United States by filing Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.

The above pasted in from the USCIS site here. See “terminology.”

Who is a “Qualified Alien?”

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Qualified Alien: As defined under PRWORA (8 U.S.C. 1641)

An alien who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence under the Immigration and Nationality Act;

An alien who is granted asylum under section 208 of such Act;

A refugee who is admitted to the United States under section 207 of such Act;

An alien who is paroled into the United States under section 212(d)(5) of such Act for a period of at least 1 year;

An alien whose deportation is being withheld under section 243(h) of such Act;

An alien who is granted conditional entry pursuant to section 203(a)(7) of such Act as in effect prior to April 1, 1980;

An alien who is a Cuban/Haitian Entrant as defined by section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980;

An alien who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty under section 431 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 8 U.S.C. 1641 contains more on aliens battered or subjected to extreme cruelty.

 

Sen. Greg Dolezal omits requirement that students in SB 233 be U.S. citizens or green card holders in bill presentation – Video & transcript

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House Education committee 8:00 AM meeting, March 21, 2023 Left: Rep Todd Jones, (R) Sen. Greg Dolezal in 8:00 AM House Education committee hearing.

Why do you think Sen Dolezal didn’t tell the committee and the world about the illegal immigration component of his bill?

Eligible students must be U.S. citizens or green card holders. Why doesn’t the bill have the same requirement for the “parents?” We’ll tell you in another post.

  • Related: A line-by-line look at the role of parents in the proposed new state “Promise Scholarship” grant 

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Sen. Greg Dolezal (R- Cumming) Lead sponsor, SB 233 “school choice” – presenting the bill as passed by the senate to the House Education committee. Partial transcript. This begins after start of presentation and stops well before the end.

“Um, I thought I would start, Mr. Chairman, the same way I started in the subcommittee yesterday, which is simply to talk about this bill from a high level, what this bill does, who it does it for, how it will function, and what it is that we’re doing.

Senate Bill 233 is the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, and from… At a high level, it takes the state funding for students who are currently enrolled in public school, it allows their parents to redirect those funds to an educational outcome, and a pathway of their choice.

That can be homeschool, virtual school, private school, co-ops, and as the education industry continues to innovate, hopefully we’ll continue to see further opportunities for parents to pursue excellent education outcomes for their children as we move into the future.

So, in the colloquial terms, as we’ve heard these… This term bantered about, it’s a money follows the child program. Mr. Chairman, I think it’s important to just talk through a high level of how schools are funded in the state of Georgia.

You have three buckets of funding, federal funding, state funding, and then the local funding, the local funding comes from the tax digest. The state funding is appropriated on a per capita basis, as you know, and it is designed to cover the marginal costs of adding a student to a system, so therefor the state funding for every school system in the state of Georgia fluctuates as the head count fluctuates, which is almost guaranteed to be some fluctuation year over year as you have [inaudible 00:01:36] student that move through the system.

The local funding, which comes from the local tax digest is designed to cover the fixed cost. That’s your building costs, and other hard costs that tend to be more static in nature, and don’t fluctuate as much via head count.

That funding is obviously based on the tax digest, and not at all tied to head count. What the bill, as it passed the Senate will do, it was… It will allow students to take $6,000, which is slightly less than the average that the state spends per student, uh, in the K through 12 public education system, and allow them to pursue one of those opportunities.

–>Who is eligible for the program? Like I mentioned, the students who are currently enrolled in public school, or those entering public school for the first time, and then the students who were attending a school that would be deemed to be in the bottom 25%, so the bottom quartile of schools in the state of Georgia *(actually, lines 71 & 72 create the requirement that the student be a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holder) – also found on lines 82 & 83 in the latest version of the bill).

  • Update, March 22, 2023 6:20 AM: The Republican-majority House Education committee passed the latest version of SB 233 out on an unaccountable voice vote yesterday.

How is the funding spent? If you’re familiar with FSA programs, or other things that are administered by a third party, this would be very similar. These, uh… The state finance commissioner would stand up a third party administrator, and the, the funds would flow through that, that third party…”

end of transcript.

 

SB 195 apparently dismantles state law on illegal aliens accessing occupational licenses: It passed senate with zero “no” votes

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Update: SB 195 saw significant change (improvement) in the House and passed that body on March 27, 2023. See House vote 319 here.

SB 195 is yet another Republican bill under the Gold Dome apparently aimed at dismantling law we worked to put in place making life more difficult for illegal aliens. It passed the senate on March 6 without any member voting against it (vote record on the bottom).

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce goal is to allow a member of the U.S. military and their spouses to see a fast track to obtaining a professional or occupational license. According to the bill, generally, if a spouse of a member of the military moves to Georgia and already “holds a current and valid license to practice a profession, business, or trade issued by another state for an occupation with a similar scope of practice in this state” the Georgia licensing process will be “expedited.”

Professional and occupational licenses are “public benefits” under state law.

Bills we worked to see passed in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 deal with a verification system in which applicants for occupational and professional licenses must swear on an affidavit they are eligible for the public benefit because of U.S. citizenship of are have “lawful presence.” That system is set up in OCGA 50-36-1. That existing verification system should not be waived for anyone, including a spouse of a member of the military who could be in the U.S. illegally.

Sen. Larry Walker (R- Perry) lead sponsor of SB 195. Other sponsors here.

The bill is easily fixed with the addition of this sentence: “Nothing contained in this Code section shall be construed to permit the issuance of a license without verification under Code Section 50-36-1.”

Please contact your own state Rep and point this out? We doubt this is the only such bill.

Also please contact the chairman of the House Regulated Industries committee, Rep Alan Powell at his Gold Dome office 404-463-3793 – alan.powell@house.ga.gov . just leave a polite message on voice mail or with the staffer who answers the phone: We are watching SB 195 and want to be sure you add ‘belt and suspenders’ language to keep illegal aliens out of our occupational and professional licensing process.”

 

Correction, apology and clarification: Partially inaccurate analysis of SB 233 – “school choice”

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Re; SB 233 as passed the senate (SB233/CFSA)

Correction: The conclusion I came to and posted here regarding eligibility of students for the proposed new state grant known as the “Promise Scholarship” in SB 233 was inaccurate. I wrote that aliens illegally paroled for admission into the United States by the Biden administration would be eligible for the proposed new benefit. That conclusion is wrong. In fact, eligibility for the benefit requires that a student be a United States citizen or a “permanent resident alien” (green card holder) who meets the definition of an eligible noncitizen under federal Title IV requirements.”

That restriction does not include recipients of Biden’s illegal parole as I wrote. I deeply regret the obvious error.

As Georgia’s only full time pro-enforcement voice on immigration, we strive for accuracy and have promised swift correction on any inaccurate information. I have proven that no matter how many times one checks his work, if the same glaring error is repeated in the analysis process the conclusion will be flawed.

One of the first things I was taught as a seventeen-year-old recruit was that “Marines do not make excuses.” That said, I wish I had paid much closer attention in grade school class on Roman numerals.

Including state Rep Will Wade, and Senator Colton Moore’s Chief of Staff Michael Gargiulo, many thanks to the various people who politely convinced me to check my work yet again. I am profoundly sorry for my mistake and grateful for the confidence so many people show for our credibility.

Clarification: As the state-funded private school tuition scholarship proposed in SB 233 would benefit entire families, we have been consistent in our opinion that students and “parents” (applicants) be U.S. citizens or green card holders (“LPRs” – Lawful Permanent Residents).

I have repeatedly pointed out that we see no provision that “parents” are required to have that status  – or have any lawful immigration status. Due to the involvement of “parents” in the application process, oversight authority and apparent ability to access payments for “certain qualified education expenses,” we believe the absence of that language is crucial in any judgment of the pro-enforcement fairness and viability of the measure. Please see more on parents here.

We are of the opinion that any new “Promise Scholarship” would be a state grant public benefit under OCGA 50-36-1 and that applicants (“parents”) would be required to complete the verification of “lawful presence” in that code section. Assuming this is the case, it would not alone limit the participation of “parents” to U.S. citizens or LPRs. It would allow “parents” with non-immigrant visas and Biden’s illegal parole to apply and participate. We respectfully recommend that legislators educate themselves on this matter.

In the interest of “a belt and suspenders” clarity, the bill should contain language on this point. We also note that similar previous legislation did not require students to be U.S. citizens or LPRs, only cited 50-36-1 as an eligibility and verification reference and was murky in it’s language and wrong in its presentation.

dak

 

A line-by-line look at the role of “parents” in the proposed new state “Promise Scholarship” grant  SB 233

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There is no requirement in the bill that “parents” who apply for benefits be U.S. citizens or have legal immigration status. Existing law requires verification of “lawful presence” for applicants but that law (OCGA 50-36-1) sees spotty compliance and enforcement. Wording should be added to the bill that inserts language referring to that law. 

 

PARENTS    SB 233 AS PASSED SENATE

 Creation of a new state grant to be known as a “Promise scholarship” for which parents  must apply for student’s access to state funds.

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There is no requirement that “parents” be U.S. citizens or have legal immigration status.

Lines 32 & 33: “Parents” can also be a legal guardian, custodian, or other person with legal authority to act on behalf of a student.”

Lines 66 & 67: A student shall qualify for a promise scholarship account under this chapter if:  The student’s parent or parents currently reside within Georgia;

Lines 78-81: It is the “parent” who begins the process of accessing the new “Promise scholarship” state grant for the student (and thereby the family) by submitting an application to the state – “The student’s parent submits an application for an account to the commission no later than the deadline established by the commission.”

Lines 101-104: “Parents” are the recipient of the state funds for the “Promise scholarship” and student account funds are a result of the choice of the parent.

“Any account funds directed to a participating school or service provider are so directed on behalf of the participating student’s parent, the recognized recipient of such participating student’s account funds, and wholly as a result of the genuine and independent private choice of the parent.”

The “parent” signs an “agreement” promising to do and not do certain things in relation to the student’s education.Lines 105-108:  The parent of each student participating in the program shall comply fully with the participating school or service provider’s rules and policies. Any parent who fails to comply with the provisions of this chapter and commission regulations relating to the program shall forfeit the account and all account funds therein.  (If there is monitoring and then enforcement).

 Lines 156 -159: “The commission shall develop a system for parents to direct account funds to participating schools and service providers by electronic funds transfer, automated clearing-house transfer, or another system that the commission finds to be commercially viable, cost-effective, and easy for parents of participating students to use.

The new state grant would set up a system of reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenditures for…parents.

Lines 160 – 163: (The) commission shall not adopt a system that relies solely on reimbursing parents for out-of-pocket expenses, but may determine certain qualified education expenses that must require reimbursement or preapproval for purchase (italics mine). The commission is authorized to qualify private financial management firms to manage the payment system.

“Parents” will be appointed by the state to serve on an oversight committee that makes decisions on eligible/qualified expenses.

Lines 186 – 192 “To assist in the determination of whether certain expenses meet the requirements to be considered a qualified education expense under this chapter, a parent review committee shall be established. The committee shall be composed of eight parents of eligible students. Four of the parents shall reside in local school systems with student enrollment greater than 10,000, and four of the parents shall reside in local school systems with student enrollment less than 10,000.”

There is no requirement that “parents” be U.S. citizens or have legal immigration status.

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We have a solution: Only U.S. citizens and green card holders should be allowed to apply for or benefit from “Promise scholarship” benefits. 

Republican Senate ‘school choice’ bill: ‘A Mackerel in the Sun’ #SB233

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Only U.S. citizens and green card holders should benefit from or participate in any new state grant for K-12 private school tuition

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School choice is an idea worthy of serious consideration. Including illegal aliens in any part of a new state grant isn’t.

The GOP-controlled state senate recently passed SB 233, a deeply flawed bill titled “The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act” – otherwise known as “school choice” and “educational freedom.” See also “putting parents in charge.”

Watching the rush to passage and the obfuscation of the senate Republicans to push the odiferous measure through reminded this writer of the scenario surrounding immigration legislation in Washington D.C. a decade ago.

During the successful struggle in 2013 to stop that year’s attempt at amnesty for illegal aliens, then Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions described the “immigration reform” legislation as “a mackerel in the sun.” He pointed out that the bill was meant to be passed into law before too many people had read it and before too many facts were provided to the American public.

Sessions advised inspection and comprehension of the contents of the most horrible measure. He knew that the light of day would expose the truth about the “Gang of Eight” amnesty.

“The longer it lays in the sun, the more it smells, as they say about the mackerel” is how Sessions described his reason for the roadblocks he put in front of passage to the New York Times. The amnesty bill failed in the U.S. House because of too much information. Former U.S. Attorney General Sessions is a personal hero here.

The “school choice” bill that the senate passed was dropped into the senate hopper on February 22 and passed just five legislative days later on the senate floor. That unfamiliar odor you may be smelling could well be coming from Atlanta and the stench of this Republican-concocted “school choice” legislation after only a week of being out in the open.

  • Related: We warned and informed GOP senators on the immigration-related problems in the bill well before they voted

The contents of SB 233 create a new state grant for families of K-12 students to use to pay for private school education and other expenses as an alternative to public school education.

The bill contains language that allows students attending private school at taxpayer expense to be formerly “inadmissible aliens” who have been illegally granted mass “parole” by the Biden administration. That scam was found to be unlawful last week by a federal court in Florida.

Parole, even when it is done legally, does not confer lawful border entry status. Legal immigrants do not need parole.

Related: A retired INS agent on SB 233 in the Brunswick News

Amazing, but true: the “school choice” bill (SB233) does not exclude illegal alien parents from the administration process. Processing of state benefits to eligible families begins only when “parents” file an application to begin the $6000 annual proposed new grant payments for K-12 students to attend private school.

GA state Senator Greg Dolezal, lead sponsor of SB 233 – “school choice” 2023 edition.

“Parents” includes a “legal guardian, custodian, or other person with legal authority to act on behalf of the student.” The bill authorizes “parents” to be part of an oversight committee that has authority to decide on eligible expenses in the use of state funds. “Parents” can be paid for unforeseen out-of-pocket expenses.

Again: There is nothing in the bill that says “parents” must be in the U.S. lawfully.

Lead sponsor on SB 233 is Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming). Dolezal did not mention anything regarding illegal immigration when he presented the bill. Floor debate did not include any discussion of the state’s illegal immigration crisis.

The bill was intentionally rushed through the committee process while this writer was refused an opportunity to speak during the much-abbreviated public comment period. Because I was the first person to sign up to speak on the bill, the committee chairman of the senate Education and Youth committee, Republican Sen. Clint Dixon (Buford), began selection of speakers from the bottom of the list. He ended the comment period when he worked back up the list to my name. That cheap and cowardly abuse of power is on official archived video record.

As if to prove they have forgotten that real conservatives don’t do anything that rewards or encourages illegal immigration into Georgia, every Republican senator voted in favor of final passage.

With the troubling bill now in the House, conservative Representatives should withhold action until next year so there is time to understand it and make an educated decision on their own vote. Idea: Only U.S. citizens and green card holders should be eligible for the proposed “Promise Scholarship.”

Pro-borders voters should step in and do for the Georgia senate’s “school choice” bill what Jeff Sessions did to the failed 2013 amnesty try. Contact your state Rep and tell them to ask the Speaker to wait until next year to consider “school choice.’

Let this anti-enforcement mackerel sit in the sun over the summer.

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A version of this essay is publish in the March 12 edition of  The Islander newspaper in Glynn County. GA. and on the subscription website Insider Advantage Georgia on March 15, 2023.