Opinion: Increase choice as public schools can’t meet all kids’ needs

by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Feb 15, 2023

Opinion: Increase choice as public schools can’t meet all kids’ needs

OpEd Written by Corey Burres, VP of Communication

Unedited Title: Public Schools Are At the Heart of School Choice

As states like Utah and Iowa pass sweeping school choice legislation, it is important to understand no one is trying to defund public schools. The millions of American parents pleading with legislators across the country to open up educational options for their kids are not secretly hoping public schools go away. It’s a partisan myth that is dividing us on education and resulting in burnout and frustration for everyone.

I grew up riding the big yellow bus to my local public school. My kids spent most of their education in public schools. I’m thankful for public schools and the teachers who work so hard to educate and enlighten our children.

Public schools are immeasurably valuable.

It’s my respect for that value that makes me question why so many have politicized fear around educational concepts like school choice, charter schools and scholarship programs. We must face the fact that our education system is overwhelmed. There is no possible way an area public school can meet the diverse needs of every single student.

Yet that is exactly what many expect of them. We expect that public schools will be able to address the learning needs of kids with a wide array of abilities, physical and emotional needs and unique home and personal challenges. You can understand why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

Imagine going to work with a lesson plan and knowing that five of your students will struggle because they have a diagnosed or undiagnosed learning disability, another five will have ADHD and struggle to focus and another five will be facing home issues and food insecurity. A teacher’s lesson plan is expected to get each of these different students to the same level of success. Add in that we are asking teachers to instruct or guide moral standards and you have a recipe for frustration and burnout.

But it’s not just about teachers. It’s about the kids getting a quality education. Let me be clear, quality education is not an input solely determined by great teaching but an output of what is learned. You can have the greatest teacher, but if the child isn’t learning, they aren’t receiving a quality education. Many years ago, I worked on filming a documentary on education called “Flunked.”

Then, like now, the United States was falling behind internationally, and we wanted to see if there were any schools doing something different. We traveled up and down the West Coast talking with schools that served low-income, inner-city students, schools in rural areas and others that focused on performing arts. As a young parent, it was fascinating and inspiring to see what was available.

Sadly, as I returned home, I faced a different reality for my family. The teacher assigned to my then-5-year-old daughter told my wife and I that our daughter was likely to be bored and not challenged. The local school simply couldn’t provide what she needed, and we were forced to find alternatives.

Thankfully, we had family and others who helped us collect the money necessary to get her into an option that would challenge her. Eventually, we moved and were able to get her back into a public school where she thrived.

But what about the many kids and parents who have no opportunity because they can’t afford it or live in the wrong district? Is quality education only promised to those who can pay up or live in the right ZIP code?

We are stressing public schools by expecting them to be all things to all kids and we are failing to deliver quality education. Even as school choice options become more mainstream across the country, we’re still clinging to the fear of public schools going away. Even the fear that public schools will suddenly be defunded is a myth with per-student funding actually going up over the last decade despite more options being available.

We need to look to innovation in education and stop fearing change. Keep public schools at the center while decreasing the stress on the system by creating alternatives. After all, what we all want is a great education for our kids.

Originally posted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bill to reopen Louisville’s juvenile detention center moves ahead, but some voice concerns

by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Feb 15, 2023

Bill to reopen Louisville’s juvenile detention center moves ahead, but some voice concerns

A bill that would reopen Louisville’s juvenile detention center amid an influx of crimes committed by young people cleared its first committee hearing Wednesday in Frankfort.

House Bill 3 appropriates $8.9 million to renovate the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center, which Metro Louisville closed in 2019 amid a budget crunch. The legislation also provides operating costs for the facility once it opens.

“This bill focuses on the children who have found themselves most involved in street life and most involved in serious offending and serves as an intervention point to hopefully get them back on a positive life course,” said Josh Crawford, formerly of Louisville’s Pegasus Institute think tank and now the director of criminal justice initiatives with the Georgia Center for Opportunity..

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Competing proposals emerge to help Kentucky’s struggling juvenile justice centers

by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Feb 15, 2023

Competing proposals emerge to help Kentucky’s struggling juvenile justice centers

Kentucky’s troubled juvenile justice facilities have put a call on lawmakers to act. Democrats and Republicans have put out different approaches to curb troubled youth away from crime.

Before the 2023 session started, lawmakers formed a work group to investigate the problems in the state’s juvenile justice centers.

The two Democrats in that group said their proposals are more prevention-focused. Meanwhile, the GOP-backed bill that passed the committee Wednesday would bring a facility to Louisville as well as tougher penalties for violent youth and their parents.

“This bill focuses on the children who have found themselves most involved in street life and most involved in serious offending and serves as an intervention point to hopefully get them back on a positive life course,” Josh Crawford, Director Of Criminal Justice Initiatives at the Kentucky Center for Opportunity told lawmakers.

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5 Reasons Why It’s a Good Idea to Expand Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship

by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Feb 1, 2023

5 Reasons Why It’s a Good Idea to Expand Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship

Key Points

Georgia lawmakers are considering an increase to the cap on Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship program.
The communities’ positive response to the scholarship opportunity has created demand above and beyond what the program can currently handle.
Raising the cap on Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship program would allow the program to serve more families who otherwise may not be able to afford private school as an education option.

In 2024, Georgia legislators are considering an expansion to Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship program. Through this program, businesses and individuals can donate toward private school scholarships for K-12 students enrolled in public schools. In return, they receive a dollar-for-dollar state income tax credit.

In 2022, the state Legislature raised the program cap by $20 million, bringing it up to $120 million from $100 million. But that increase hasn’t proven large enough to keep up with communities’ positive response. Lawmakers are now looking at a proposed 2024 bill that would raise the total program cap to $200 million, and expand the number of students the program can serve.

“It’s clear that demand for the program is strong. The existing $120 million cap was met on the very first day of applications in 2023,” noted Buzz Brockway, Vice President of Public Policy at the Georgia Center for Opportunity. “Georgia families are demanding more options, and lawmakers would be wise to take notice.”

Here are a few reasons why raising the cap on Georgia’s tax credit scholarship program would help students, parents, and the state’s overall education system:

1. The Georgia Tax Credit Scholarship program makes private school access more equitable.

Private schools are often an education option available to families who can afford them. Through Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship, lower and middle-income families can get financial support to access private schools as a viable option when the local public school isn’t the best fit for their child.

But what about families in rural areas? According to a 2017 national study by The Brookings Institute, 69% of families living in rural areas have a private school within 10 miles. Increasing the program cap for Georgia’s tax credit scholarships would help rural Georgia families in this situation. For those that aren’t, there’s still a benefit: Growing the tax credit scholarship program is a way to encourage more private schools to launch and fill education gaps in areas where options are fewer and farther between.

2. Raising the program cap makes it possible to serve more kids.

Currently 500,000 Georgia students are in schools that are underperforming or simply aren’t meeting their specific needs. Increasing the program cap means more families could enjoy the flexibility to consider one of Georgia’s 824 private schools when seeking out a school that matches their kid’s learning style, their personal values, or other preferences. In 2021, 17,440 scholarships were awarded to eligible students. Imagine how many more kids we could help if Georgia’s tax credit scholarship program expanded to $200 million.

3. Expanding our tax credit scholarship program would bring Georgia up-to-date with other states.

Florida, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Iowa, and Nevada have all taken note of the growing popularity of tax credit scholarships and have responded by increasing caps on their various programs. Whether it’s tax credit scholarships or other options like Education Savings Accounts, the momentum to embrace more education choice programs is building across many states, raising the question of whether Georgia will keep up.

With Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship, kids in Atlanta’s crime-ridden neighborhoods have found a safe place to go to school, allowing them to improve academically and pursue their dreams.

With Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship, kids in Atlanta’s crime-ridden neighborhoods have found a safe place to go to school, allowing them to improve academically and pursue their dreams.

4. It’s one option to relieve parents’ frustration with one-size-fits-all education options.

A recent poll of 5,000 parents, conducted by the Harris Poll, revealed that 20% of parents switched schools for their kids during the pandemic. The pandemic itself is a tired topic, but the trend it introduced in education isn’t: Over the last two years, parents’ desire for more education options has skyrocketed as many of them realize that traditional public schools don’t work for every kid.

By investing in educational choice programs, we can guarantee families access to a variety of stellar learning experiences that help their children reach great heights—academically, socially, vocationally…the list goes on. Georgia’s tax credit scholarship program makes private schools one of these meaningful options, regardless of where families live or how much they earn.

5. Increasing education tax credits gets more businesses and individuals involved in our kids’ futures.

A quality education, tailored to a student’s unique needs, prepares kids for the workplace, for community involvement, and for life. That’s why education is more than a parental concern—it should be a community priority. We all benefit when kids have access to the education option that will help them become healthy, successful citizens, employees, relatives, and friends as they grow up. Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship gives our communities—both businesses and taxpayers—a way to directly invest in K-12 education and ensure bright futures for our students. By raising the program cap, we can expand the investment opportunities available to current donors and to new businesses and individuals who want to get involved.

Two Columbus-based organizations offering FREE work-training program

by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Jan 27, 2023

Two Columbus-based organizations offering FREE work-training program

Better Work Columbus and Asbury United Methodist Church are working together for the second year to offer free classes designed to remove the barriers that keep many people in Columbus without a job.

“This is about bringing resources into the communities where they’re needed to meet people where they are instead of making people have to go out into the community,” says Better Work Columbus Program Manager Kristin Barker.

Jobs for Life is a free 11-week program for people who are looking to find a job and keep a good job. Classes will be offered at Asbury United Methodist Church starting March 7. Applications are open right now until Friday, February 17.

“They are learning about how to search for jobs themselves, they are working on their resumes, and their vocational plans and their goals, and learning about themselves”

Barker says students who go through the program build their own identity and a newfound value in themselves.

Read the full article here