Section 20-2-2116. Amount of scholarship; method of payments

   (a) The maximum scholarship granted a scholarship student pursuant to this article shall be an amount equivalent to the costs of the educational program that would have been provided for the student in the resident school system as calculated under Code Section 20-2-161. This shall not include any federal funds.

(b) The amount of the scholarship shall be the lesser of the amount calculated in subsection (a) of this Code section or the amount of the participating school's tuition and fees, if applicable. The amount of any assessment fee required by the participating school may be paid from the total amount of the scholarship.

(c) Scholarship students shall be counted in the enrollment of their resident school system; provided, however, that this count shall only be for purposes of determining the amount of the scholarship and the scholarship students shall not be included as enrolled for purposes of state or federal accountability requirements, including, but not limited to, the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-110). The funds needed to provide a scholarship shall be subtracted from the allotment payable to the resident school system.

(d) Each local school system shall submit quarterly reports to the department on dates established by the department stating the number of scholarship students in the resident school system. Following each notification, the department shall transfer from the state allotment to each school system the amount calculated under subsection (b) of this Code section to a separate account for the scholarship program for quarterly disbursement to the parents of scholarship students. When a student enters the program, the department must receive all documentation required for the student's participation, including the participating school's and student's fee schedules, at least 30 days before the first quarterly scholarship payment is made for the student. The department may not make any retroactive payments.

(e) Upon proper documentation received by the department, the department shall make quarterly scholarship payments to the parents of scholarship students on or before October 15, December 15, February 15, and May 15 for quarterly periods corresponding, respectively, to August 1 through September 30, October 1 through November 30, December 1 through the last day of February, and March 1 through May 31 during each academic year in which the scholarship is in force. As nearly as practical, such quarterly payments shall be equal; provided, however, that this shall not prevent payments from being adjusted due to budgetary midterm adjustments made pursuant to Code Section 20-2-162. The state auditor shall cite as an audit exception any failure by the department to meet any payment deadlines and shall include such audit exceptions on the website established pursuant to Code Section 50-6-32. The initial payment shall be made upon evidence of admission to the participating school, and subsequent payments shall be made on evidence of continued enrollment and attendance at the participating school.

(f) Payment to the parents must be made by individual warrant made payable to the student's parent and mailed by the department to the participating school of the parent's choice, and the parent shall restrictively endorse the warrant to the participating school for deposit into the account of such school.

(g) A person, on behalf of a participating school, may not accept a power of attorney from a parent to sign a warrant, and a parent of a scholarship student may not give a power of attorney designating a person, on behalf of a participating school, as the parent's attorney in fact.

(h) If the participating school requires partial payment of tuition prior to the start of the academic year to reserve space for students admitted to the school, that partial payment may be paid by the department prior to the first quarterly payment of the year in which the scholarship is awarded, up to a maximum of $1,000.00, and deducted from subsequent scholarship payments. If a student decides not to attend the participating school, the partial reservation payment must be returned to the department by such school. Only one reservation payment per student may be made per year.

Code 1981, § 20-2-2116, enacted by Ga. L. 2007, p. 197, § 1/SB 10; Ga. L. 2013, p. 753, § 2/HB 70.