by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Oct 12, 2018
Peachtree Corners—A new poll released by the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) has found that a significant majority of likely Georgia voters—to the tune of 68 percent—support school choice for families across the state.
Ahead of the 2019 legislative session, nearly seven-in-ten (67 percent) voters say it’s important for the state legislature to enact policies that expand school choice in the next legislative session, and that support extends across party, racial, and geographic lines. Of all school choice measures available in Georgia, the Tax Credit Scholarship Program garnered the most support.
Underscoring the bipartisan nature of school choice, the survey found strong support for school choice regardless of political affiliation—75 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Independents, and 62 percent of Democrats. Support is strong across racial and geographic lines as well: 70 percent of African-American voters and 66 percent of white voters support school choice, while voters in Augusta (76 percent), Atlanta (68 percent), and Savannah (65 percent) are also supportive.
“School choice has long been, and continues to be, a winning issue,” said Randy Hicks, GCO’s president and CEO. “No matter who’s leading under the Gold Dome in 2019, Georgians recognize its importance for creating a better tomorrow for every child, but particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who need help the most.”
The survey was conducted by WPA Intelligence. Interviews were collected from September 19-23 among over 600 likely voters in Georgia. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.
Get more details about the poll here: GCO Poll Memo
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Sep 24, 2018
A new poll from Education Next shows a surge in support for educational choice programs nationwide. Across the board, support is up for publicly funded school-choice scholarships, tax-credit scholarships, and public charter schools.
And not only is public support for school choice on the rise, it has jumped from plurality to majority support on several key data points:
- Support for publicly funded school-choice scholarships jumped from 45% in 2017 to 54% in 2018. More parents than ever support these scholarships—61%, up from 52% in 2017.
- While 43% support school-choice scholarships for low-income students, 56% of African American and 62% of Hispanic respondents favor them.
- Hispanic families in particular see the benefits of educational choice, with support for publicly funded school-choice scholarships increasing from 49% in 2017 to 67% in 2018.
Other insights:
- Support for public charter schools increased from 39% in 2017 to 44% in 2018.
- Opposition to publicly funded school-choice scholarships has decreased 13 percentage points since 2016, from 44% to 31% today.
While these results are good news for school-choice proponents nationwide, here in Georgia we continue to be a trendsetter in educational opportunity—ranking seventh nationally thanks to a series of school-choice laws passed since 2008, including the Tax Credit Scholarship Program and the Special Needs Scholarship Program.
All told, Georgia’s school choice programs have delivered impressive results—with more than 17,000 students benefitting in the 2016-17 school year, including 13,600 children participating in the tax credit scholarship program and 4,000 receiving tuition assistance through the Special Needs Scholarship Program.
And these programs are popular across key demographics such as political affiliation, age, and race. In Georgia, 84% of Republicans, 67% of Independents, and 55% of Democrats support school choice. Among Millennials and minorities, support is even stronger—and growing—with 74% of Latinos, 72% of African Americans, and 75% of Millennials in favor.
Even though most students will continue to be educated in traditional public schools, it’s nice to see the latest Education Next poll confirm nationally what we already know here in Georgia: School-choice options empower parents to make the best educational decisions for their children and give them the best shot to live a flourishing life.
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Jul 3, 2018
What goal is more important than ensuring our most vulnerable students have the best shot at success? That’s what Georgia’s Special Needs Scholarship Program is all about. Now in its 11th year, the scholarship enables children who have special needs to transfer to another school to better meet their unique educational needs.
Over 4,500 students benefited from the program during the 2016-2017 school year, with scholarships averaging $5,722 per student.
But despite the success of the program, there is a lot more to be done. A House study committee convened in mid-June to consider updates to the program, specifically revisions contained in House Bill 801. HB 801 would make two significant updates to the Special Needs Scholarship Program—first, by giving parents more flexibility in how to best use scholarship funds on behalf of their child, and second by opening up scholarship funds to home-educated students.
In the first case, the bill would allow parents to use scholarship dollars for ongoing therapies, tutoring, or specialized equipment. This, in turn, would empower children with special needs to excel in the classroom and beyond.
Sometimes, students with special needs are lagging behind in their traditional public school environments. So, when they transition to a private school through the scholarship, they have to play catch up to get fully up-to-speed. Allowing parents to use scholarship funds for approved non-tuition expenses would go a long way toward helping these students stay on track at their new schools.
This type of change makes sense: Public schools are already required to provide in-house speech, occupational, and physical therapy for children with special needs. Granting scholarship recipients the same flexibility is wise.
At the study committee hearing on HB 801, parents made emotional appeals, asking lawmakers to open scholarship funds to homeschool families as well:
A former Gwinnett teacher now homeschooling her adopted children said they would benefit if the scholarship was opened to homeschoolers for tutoring and therapies, including speech, physical, occupational and equine. Her seven children face multiple struggles related to the chaos of their early lives and, in some cases, fetal alcohol syndrome and visual impairments, that render a traditional classroom unworkable, she explained.
An Atlanta mother said she pulled her bright daughter with autism out of a public middle school because the girl grew anxious and overwhelmed in such a big setting. Her daughter’s therapist recommended homeschooling to alleviate the anxiety. The mother’s goal is to homeschool now and then enroll her daughter in a small, flexible high school. She asked lawmakers to drop the requirement that students only qualify for the voucher after a full year in public school.
The Special Needs Scholarship Program is working for Georgia families who need help the most. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. By making these two changes, lawmakers would open up the scholarship program to hundreds of additional families in need of real educational options.
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Jun 11, 2018
Imagine the challenge of raising two children with special needs. That’s the task that Jan—a small business owner in Georgia—faces in bringing up her two girls. Katie has ADHD, dyslexia, and autism spectrum disorder, and Jessica has an auditory processing disorder and ADHD.
But as Jan has discovered, while raising two children with special needs presents challenges, it also presents unique opportunities. Both Katie and Jessica were caught in a local public-school system that wasn’t meeting their needs. In fact, teachers told Jan that there was nothing they could do to help Katie—and that she would never learn to read or write—and that Jessica would never be able to pass state tests.
“I remember all the days at the bus stop crying and just telling my daughters, ‘We just have to make it through the end of the year,’” Jan shared. “If you don’t fit into the box, you fall through the cracks.”
Desperate for options, Jan turned to Georgia’s Special Needs Scholarship Program (the SB10 waiver). The program allows students with special needs to transfer to another school—traditional, charter, or authorized private—to better meet their unique educational needs. Since the scholarship program became law in 2007, nearly 25,000 students have participated, including 4,154 students for the 2015-2016 school year alone.
Due to funds through the scholarship, Katie started attending a small private school specifically designed for students with reading challenges. The results have been astounding: She now reads at grade level and is performing several grade levels above in math. Meanwhile, Jessica is excelling as well, taking advanced-level chemistry and performing several grade levels above in other subjects.
“Our experience at the private school is night and day,” Jan said. “I remember my daughter saying, ‘Mom, I don’t think I ever want to leave this school. Everyone here has a disability and it’s not a big deal.”
Today, Jan is dedicated to telling other families about the enormous blessing of the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program. Even so, she sees room for improvement in the program.
“If families were able to use the scholarship for other expenses needed for children with special needs—such as tutors and therapies—it would be incredibly helpful,” she said. “A lot of students also need additional help to get caught up because they were so far behind in their public schools. Flexibility in how the funding could be used would help support getting them on track at their private schools.”
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | May 17, 2018
Of the many bills that will be under consideration by the Georgia legislature in 2019, one that we are particularly excited about is a piece of legislation creating “Individualized Education Accounts” (IEAs), which aim to improve our state’s Special Needs Scholarship by removing eligibility barriers and making it more flexible and reflective of each student’s specific needs.
Why do we think it’s necessary to enhance the current law? Because IEAs will allow students like Seth—who have special needs that merit educational alternatives—to get the help they need to learn in an appropriate environment and thrive in life. And it empowers parents—who are best equipped to make decisions for their children—to choose the educational setting that best serves their interests and needs.
Like many kids his age, Seth is an active nine-year old who loves math, reading books (particularly the Harry Potter series), and music. He’s also very energetic and excels at swimming and ice skating. But because he has autism spectrum disorder, Seth struggles to focus in a traditional classroom and acts out when he’s not challenged or given opportunities for physical activity.
Sadly, because Seth was non-verbal from a young age, he started public school kindergarten with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and was placed in a self-contained classroom where he was given academic work well below his abilities. Frustrated by his lack of progress, Seth’s parents got a Special Needs Scholarship and moved him into private school in first grade, where he was more academically challenged. Yet even here, Seth acted out and they knew that this setting didn’t work either.
So, Seth’s parents decided to homeschool their son. His mother now customizes Seth’s academic environment and his school day follows a rhythm of physical activity and school work. For example, Seth might jump on the trampoline for five minutes followed by a focused math or language arts session. Today, Seth performs at his grade level—far beyond his performance in other educational settings.
How will IEAs further enhance Seth’s learning environment? By adding more flexibility to the current law, the unique and burdensome expenses currently incurred by Seth’s parents—music, speech and occupational therapy, curricula, and communication tutoring—will be covered. And for thousands of other families like Seth’s, this means that the scholarship program will benefit children of all income levels and backgrounds—not just those who can afford private or homeschool educations requiring expensive supplemental resources.
Soon, a legislative study committee will discuss needed improvements to the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship. We hope Seth’s story will encourage them to advance IEA’s for all Georgia families with children with special needs.
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Apr 4, 2018
Expanded education options will soon be available to thousands of Georgia families, thanks to two measures approved in the closing hours of the General Assembly’s session last week. The last-minute approvals came at a time when school-choice advocates were losing hope that meaningful action would take place on parental school choice reforms this year. Both bills now await Governor Nathan Deal’s signature before becoming law.
The first measure, House Bill 217, nearly doubles the size of Georgia’s popular Tax Credit Scholarship Program beginning in 2019. Currently, the program is capped at $58 million per year, but the new bill raises that cap to $100 million. These tax-credit scholarships are available to help students from low-income, working-class, and minority families attend high-quality private schools that better meet their academic needs. More than 13,000 students in Georgia are benefiting from these scholarships right now.
Unfortunately, the bill also contains a “sunset provision” that pushes the cap back down to $58 million beginning in 2029. But lawmakers will have ample opportunity to eliminate that sunset over the next few years, particularly as demand for the Tax Credit Scholarship Program will undoubtedly continue to grow. Here at Georgia Center for Opportunity, we’ll advocate for eliminating this sunset to ensure the program remains well-funded perpetually.
The second measure, House Bill 787, authorizes more funding for charter schools, bringing them into greater parity with funding for traditional public schools. “This bill does not achieve full funding equity, but it is a significant step forward for Georgia students who are enrolled in a state charter school,” said Tony Roberts, President and CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association. “This bill will help ensure that students and families who chose a public charter school because it best meets the needs of their children will not be financially penalized.”
Although acknowledging these significant strides for school choice during the legislative session, school-choice advocates were disappointed that lawmakers fell short of passing House Bill 482. If approved, the measure would have made Georgia the seventh state to pass Education Savings Accounts (ESA), an innovative way for parents to pay for non-public educational options for their children.
