GCO’s Vice President of Public Policy, Buzz Brockway is joined by GCO’s Jamie Lord to discuss the Georgia Governor’s suggestions for returning to school in the Fall. While these are merely suggestions, and schools will be able to choose their plans by district, these new guidelines paint a picture of what school in Georgia could look like in light of Coronavirus.
PEACHTREE CORNERS—The Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) announced today that it has signed on to policy recommendations to Congress that would expand educational access for more schoolchildren. The recommendations were jointly issued by GCO in partnership with other nonprofit think tanks across the U.S.
“The education landscape in Georgia will look vastly different this summer and fall, and we need to include all schools—and as a result all students—in our planning to ensure full educational equity,” said Buzz Brockway, GCO’s vice president of public policy. “While the lion’s share of support will go to Georgia’s 1.7 million students enrolled in traditional public schools, we can’t afford to neglect the over 315,000 students attending public charter, private, and home schools. These recommendations would have the greatest impact on low-income, working-class, and impoverished families, the very ones who need help the most.”
The recommendations include:
Enabling educational access and providing direct support to families:
Expand the use of 529 education accounts, support education through Emergency Education Savings Accounts or microgrants, and create a “student checkup” account that provides funds to parents for use over the summer for tutoring, testing, or other expenses to foster academic progress.
Supporting private schools:
Provide a federal tax credit for donations directly to private schools, provide a temporary refundable tax credit to help low-income families continue paying private school tuition, and create equitable funding sharing requirements between traditional public schools and non-traditional options (such as public charter and non-public schools).
Improving Internet access for vulnerable families:
Address online equity issues for low-income and rural communities by expanding E-rate and providing incentives to spur the broadband infrastructure.
Supporting teachers and the transition to distance learning:
Provide a microgrant for teachers to learn and develop distance learning.
What will education look like in the coming months and years as Georgia continues to grapple with, and recovery from, the COVID-19 pandemic? Our state’s schools will reopen in August. But even then, education is likely to look much different. Virtual learning will be more popular than ever. Many parents will likely have their eyes opened to alternative education options available. And all of us will have a new appreciation for the vital role of teachers.
One blind spot the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us is the weakness of an education system built for one approach and a single learning style. The traditional public school system is based on this one-size, fits all option. But even as many families have flocked to alternatives—through charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling—that cry for flexibility will only increase in the coming months and years.
Our traditional school system offers a brick-and-mortar school that students come to for set classes and time periods during the day. Families will increasingly see that this archaic system no longer works in a 21st century education environment.
Here is what will be necessary in the post-COVID-19 education landscape:
To be sure, many parents will still prefer the traditional approach offered by traditional public school districts. Georgia must continue to support a strong public school system. But many others will want expanded options, and lawmakers and the K-12 education infrastructure must adapt.
GCO’s Vice President of Public Policy, Buzz Brockway is joined by GCO’s Jamie Lord to discuss the ways education will be impacted in the coming years. The state of Georgia faces new struggles both financially and with renewed expectations of what education is.
How and will the state meet the need of public education in the coming year?
This week we are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week across the U.S. A lot of parents today find themselves in the unexpected role of teacher. In fact, we’re in the middle of the biggest virtual learning experiment in American history. It was recently announced that Georgia schools would be closed through the remaining school year, meaning school classrooms won’t open again until August 10. Experts are warning that mass school closures threaten kids’ academic social lives, not to mention their psychological well-being.
To cope, school districts are moving to virtual learning. But many schools are ill-equipped for this sudden and dramatic shift. One analysis of 82 school districts found that “most districts are still not providing any instruction.”
Our current school system was designed for the Industrial Age. As Kerry McDonald of the Foundation for Economic Education writes, “As factories replaced farm work and production moved swiftly outside of homes and into the larger marketplace, 19th century American schooling mirrored the factories that most students would ultimately join. The trouble is that we have left the Industrial era for the Imagination Age, but our mass education system remains fully entrenched in factory-style schooling.”
To expand virtual learning, we will need to:
One of the biggest reasons why more public schools haven’t moved to online learning is equity concerns. As National Public Radio reports, “Just over half of the nation’s public school children are from families considered low-income, and an estimated 12 million lack broadband Internet access at home.” The National Center for Education Statistics reports that about one-quarter of students below the poverty line have no access to the Internet or, at best, dial-up access only.
Aside from income, geography is another factor, with students in more rural areas having less access to Internet services. What’s more, poorer school districts might not be able to offer take-home technology to students in the form of iPads and laptops.
There are a number of steps Georgia school districts may take to address the disparity right now. Much of it has to do with the proper allocation of educational resources: What about buying a tablet device or laptop for every student in Georgia? Ensuring that every home has broadband access? These are only a few of the strategies that Georgia could implement.
Imagine this: Fall 2020 rolls around and coronavirus is still running rampant. Schools are still closed. Will we delay education for these kids indefinitely? The answer is obviously no. That means we need to begin looking at education differently: Through a technology-focused lens that centers on individualized ways to educate students.
Looking to the future, Georgia needs a renewed focus on the virtual classroom after the crisis abates. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual learning was well on the rise and the wave of the future. What would the current crisis look like had we focused more heavily on expanding access to virtual learning?
The truth of the matter is that virtual learning options are abundant and growing. Khan Academy is a free resource bank of online courses, lessons, and practice tools. Duolingo is a free way for kids to learn a foreign language. The Smithsonian has an online hub of digital resources from across its museums, research centers, libraries, archives, and more.
To be clear, virtual learning can and should grow, but it’s not the right fit for everyone. The goal should be to create an education infrastructure focused on the needs of individual students. For some families, that will be brick-and-mortar schools. For others, a virtual learning environment. And for still others, the key to success will be blended learning, combining virtual learning with traditional classroom time.
What the coronavirus pandemic has shown us, however, is that we are still woefully behind on creating a truly effective virtual learning environment.
PRESS RELEASE
Today, the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) released the following recommendations for governments and schools to adopt to safely return to normal during the COVID-19 crisis. These recommendations come on the heels of President Trump’s announcement that states should begin reopening the economy at their own pace beginning May 1st. GCO will be releasing further recommendations in the near future.
We encourage state leaders to put together a task force on reopening the economy. This task force will invite business leaders to submit industry-specific guidelines on how they will operate safely in a restrictive environment until the threat is over, such as when a vaccine is found. These business leaders will receive guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Georgia’s Commissioner of Public Health. Gov. Kemp can then use these guidelines to loosen restrictions in a safe manner. In addition, GCO recommends that the governor consider modifications to his shelter-in-place order to allow people to shop, a vital step for businesses to rebound successfully.
Second, we recommend another task force providing advice to families and school districts on facilitating remote learning. This task force should also create a plan and timetable for the safe return to brick-and-mortar schools in a restrictive environment. We also recommend that school systems develop a plan to ensure students are caught up on schoolwork they might have missed. Additionally, school systems should prepare for COVID-19 outbreaks during the 2020-2021 school year and be ready to return to remote learning when and if that occurs, including a plan to assist students with limited internet access and limited access to appropriate technology.
Now is the time for civil society to work with government to plan out the reopening of our economy. Workers are being hurt because of forced closures, and we must focus particularly on individuals in vulnerable sectors of our society who could be working now but are unable. Our small businesses are hurting, too. A recent survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported that one-in-four small businesses are on the brink of closure and half are considering a temporary shutdown.
In this environment, civil society is more important than ever through nonprofits, community organizations, and churches. We recommend the state of Georgia tap into these resources through coalitions such as GCO’s Hiring Well, Doing Good initiative that matches local businesses with workers.
We are seeing positive examples of other states forming regional coalitions to fight the coronavirus. The Georgia government should consider working with neighboring states. For example, the Port of Savannah is close to the South Carolina border, and many people work at the Port and live in the Palmetto State. It would make sense for these two state governments to coordinate reopening this area at the same time.
“We are in unprecedented times, and we recognize the suffering from those affected directly by the disease, but also by those impacted by the mass closure of our economy, schools, and way of life. The time has come to create actionable items for reopening Georgia. No recovery plan is without risk, but we must weigh the risk and rely on health and business professionals to do so. Now is the time for everyone to come together to explore solutions that protect our neighborhoods and respond to community needs.”
