Democrat Georgia State Rep. Lydia Glaize has declared that she believes parents cannot be trusted to “make decisions” on their children’s schools.
Speaking before the Georgia House of Representatives on Monday, Glaize, who represents District 67, raised questions about whether families are sufficiently educated to decide where their children should attend school.
Glaize argued that parents who didn’t attend higher education “are not qualified to make those decisions.”
During a hearing on school choice, Glaize suggested that some parents advocating for school choice had not themselves finished high school.
The Democrat lawmaker insisted that those parents should not be involved in the educational decisions for their children.
“I see access as a problem,” Glaize said.
“I see parents being able to direct their child’s education, and they are already in the lower 25 percentile.
“Meaning, a lot of those parents did not finish high school, could not finish their own education.
“I am extremely concerned that we would put money in their hands, that entire piece of life in the hands of parents who are not qualified to make those decisions, and they don’t have the money to put in the difference that their child would need to attend a private school.”
Glaize then admitted that her children attended private schools, but said parents should pay for tuition themselves and expressed opposition to vouchers that would make private schools more accessible to lower-income Georgians.
“I am for private schools,” Glaize said.
“All of my children graduated from private schools.
“But I am not for them if we take public school dollars and use them for private schools.
“We paid for it, and we were able to.”
WATCH:
Videos of Glaize’s comments made the rounds on social media, drawing largely negative responses.
“Lydia Glaize is an oligarch who does not believe in the democratic process of allowing black and Latin parents to directly receive state money appropriated for the education of their own children,” one Twitter user posted.
“Glaize wants to keep children trapped in failing government schools,” another user tweeted.
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