GCO’s Vice President of Public Policy, Buzz Brockway goes over the data to discuss the impact the reopening is having on the general population. He also discusses the data around welfare cliffs. How do we help those in need without hurting their chances to grow their income?
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.
We continue our discussion with Licensed Professional therapist Osei Harvey. Osei shares how to take care of your personal well-being as you shelter in place.
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.
