Highlighting Legislation: Autism Tuition Assistance Grants
Today we wanted to highlight a couple of school choice bills that have been introduced in this year’s General Assembly session. Earlier in the session we noted a number of these bills, and we wanted to provide more information for you on those measures.
Two of the bills introduced this year would establish an Autism Tuition Assistance Grant program. Senator Walter Stosch introduced SB 956, and Delegate John O’Bannon introduced HB1985.
These bills would establish a tuition assistance grant program for students with autism. These TAG grants would provide up to $20,000 a year per student to a Virginia nonsectarian private school of choice for students identified as autistic and for whom individual education plans have been written.
Virginia has offered Tuition Assistance Grants (TAG) for college students since 1972. These grants are available for Virginia residents attending private colleges and universities in the Commonwealth.
The Lexington Institute has studied the potential impact of a TAG program for special needs students in Virginia, and concluded that such program would save the Commonwealth money.
Unfortunately, the Senate Education and Health Committee has already defeated Senator Stosch’s legislation, Delegate O’Bannon’s legislation is still being considered by the House Appropriations Committee. We encourage everyone to contact their Delegate and the members of the Appropriation Committee to urge their support of HB1985.
Rally for Education Reform
Last summer when we launched School Choice Virginia, we were honored to be joined at our announcement with Kevin Chavous, a noted education reformer who also serves as chairman of Democrats for Education Reform.
As a D.C. Councilman, Mr. Chavous chaired the city council’s education committee, and led the fight for greater school choice for D.C. families- including increasing the number of charter schools from zero to more than forty schools and 17,000 students in just six years.
Earlier this month, Mr. Chavous was joined by other education reform leaders from the Education Equality Project in rallying for education reform.
“It is time for our country to stand up for our children, Chavous said. “As great as we are, we still are failing our kids. Failing them miserably. When half of the children of color drop out of high school, we are failing our kids; when we offer fewer and fewer AP courses, we are failing our kids; when our world education rankings continue to slide, we are failing our kids; and when we remain committed to a one size fits all model of education service delivery, we are failing our kids. Yes, there are some very good schools in America that provide some children with an excellent education. But that is not good enough and we are still failing our kids.”
Read the full news release online.
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Gerard Robinson, “A Brighter Course for Our Children”
Gerard Robinson, President of the Black Alliance for Education Options, today has a wonderful op-ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch. Mr. Robinson urges Virginia lawmakers to expand educational options for parents by embracing all aspects of school choice.
The 2009 Virginia General Assembly session provides lawmakers with a fresh opportunity to create laws that will chart a brighter course for the commonwealth.
As Virginia lawmakers ponder how best to strengthen its economy, continual improvement of the existing public school system must remain a top priority.
Equally important is an expansion of parental options through public charter schools and private schools for Virginia families and children. In the recent 2008 presidential election, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama acknowledged his support for public charter schools. Why? Because he believes accountability in the public school sector works. And this month President Obama acknowledged his support for private school options by enrolling his two daughters in an elite Washington, D.C., school. Why? Because he and Michelle Obama want the best education for their children — as do millions of Virginia families.
Results from a 2,200-person telephone survey conducted in Petersburg, Richmond, and Norfolk by the Virginia-based Thomas Jefferson Institute and the Washington, D.C.-based Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) demonstrate that black families in Virginia also support parental options for their children — both in the public and private school sector.
For example, 76 percent of respondents indicated that they support school choice. When asked to identify a preference for the type of option they prefer, 89 percent support publicly funded scholarships for students with disabilities, 70 percent support public charter schools, 68 percent support personal income tax credits, and 65 percent support business income tax credits.
None of these represents entirely new ideas. In fact, each parental-choice option is operating in several states. For private-school based options, lawmakers have enacted scholarship tax credit programs in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Arizona, Utah, Ohio, Georgia, and Florida offer special needs scholarships. These programs educated more than 100,000 students in 2007-08.
EVEN MORE dramatically, nearly 1.2 million students attend public charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Given the interest expressed by black parents in three major Virginia cities, most of whom voted for President Obama, shouldn’t lawmakers give some consideration to public and private school options?
Continue reading the rest of Mr. Robinson’s op-ed.
Senate Finance Committee Fails to Act
Once again, the Senate Finance Committee sat on their hands when the opportunity to give Virginia’s students more educational options has come before them.
Senator Mark Obenshain introduced SB1221, a school choice bill similar to Delegate Saxman’s HB1965 and similar to Pennsylvania’s very successful EITC program.
The bill was heard this morning in Senate Finance, where sadly the bill died for lack of a motion. In other words, after hearing the bill, no motion was made to take action on the measure (to pass the bill, to defeat the bill, etc.).
We thank Senator Obenshain for his leadership in introducing this measure in the Senate. We are disappointed that once again the Senate has stalled these efforts to give families more educational options, but we will continue to work to pass the measures still alive in the House of Delegates.
Updated: In the news: Committee OKs Choice Bill
The Daily News Record in Harrisonburg reported on Delegate Chris Saxman’s school choice bill, HB1965, being approved by the House Finance Committee on Monday.
A plan by Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton, to help give residents a choice about where to send their children to school passed the House of Delegates Finance Committee on Monday.
Committee member Del. Matt Lohr, R-Broadway, was among the dozen of delegates who supported the bill. The bill was referred to the Appropriations Committee.
Saxman is proposing a tax credit for businesses and individuals who contribute to eligible public school foundations and scholarship foundations.
SWAC-Girl also mentions this story on her blog today. She writes:
Another hurdle has been passed by Del. Chris Saxman’s (R-Staunton) school choice bill that was supported by Del. Matt Lohr (R-Broadway). Now it goes to the Appropriations Committee.
Del. Chris Saxman on the Radio
Delegate Chris Saxman was a guest on the Joe Thomas Show on WCHV in Charlottesville this morning to talk about HB1965 being approved by the House Finance Committee yesterday. Joe and Del. Saxman talk about giving parents and students real choices in education- and how the tax credit scholarship program will help Virginia students, and save the Commonwealth money.
Listen to the podcast from the show online here.
We’re happy to get Virginians talking about the important issue of school choice- and how it helps families and taxpayers alike.
School Choice Virginia Applauds Favorable Action on HB1965
January 26, 2009
School Choice Virginia Applauds Favorable Action on HB1965
– Delegate Chris Saxman’s School Choice Measure Approved By House Finance Committee —
RICHMOND – Today in Richmond, the House Finance Committee voted 12-9 in support of Delegate Chris Saxman’s (R-Staunton) HB1965: Public/Private Education Investment Tax Credit. Following the approval of the bill, the Committee then referred the bill to the House Appropriations Committee to consider the fiscal impact of the measure.
HB1965 creates individual and business tax credits for donations made to qualifying scholarship organizations, which award scholarships for students to attend the public or private school of their choice. The legislation also provides the tax credits for donations to public school foundations as well. HB1965 is similar to school choice legislation that has been approved by the House of Delegates in each of the past four legislative sessions.
“I am very pleased that the House Finance Committee has again acted favorably on legislation that will be an important first step to ensure that every child in Virginia has the opportunity to succeed and to receive an education that will best meet their unique learning needs,” said Delegate Saxman. “In addition to considering the benefits school choice can provide students, in this difficult budget year, I think it is also extremely important that we also look at the cost-savings that this program can have for the Commonwealth. For example, Florida recently found that their similar tax credit program saves the state $1.49 for every dollar invested. It’s a win-win program.”
“Across the country, we see states and localities embracing school choice as a way to improve education for all students, and we are committed to making those choices as reality here in Virginia,” said School Choice Virginia Executive Director Whitney Duff. “From Florida to Pennsylvania, Ohio to Arizona, D.C. to Milwaukee, communities are breaking away from the status quo, one-size-fits-all model of education, to give families more options for meeting their children’s educational needs, and the results are proving the success of these programs- both for students and for taxpayers. It is time that we embrace the diversity of Virginia’s students embrace the diversity of Virginia’s students, and implement these forward-thinking reforms to give every student has the best chance at success- regardless of parental income- be that public, private, parochial, charter or home-schooling.”
School Choice Virginia is an organization working to expand educational choices for Virginia families to ensure every child has the opportunity to receive the education that best meets their unique and individual needs. As a 501(c)4, School Choice Virginia is non-partisan and can support specific legislation. In addition, School Choice Virginia works increase awareness of school choice initiatives and to demonstrate to elected leaders on all levels the broad-based support for educational reforms. Visit us online at www.SchoolChoiceVA.com.
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Public? Private? Does it matter?
For too long, many folks have viewed the fight over school choice as a battle of public versus private, instead of a battle to make sure every child has the education that best meets his or her own unique learning needs. Opponents of choice want to try and pit people against each other, as if giving families options is an attack on public schools, rather than giving children hope.
This great article, When private and public meet in class, by Doug Tuthill- a lifelong public educator who has served as president of two local teachers unions, and now serves as president of the Florida School Choice Fund, which oversees tax credit scholarship funding organizations, takes a closer look at what is really at stake.
Public is not always the enemy of private, and Florida’s Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship program is a case in point. This program serves more than 23,000 low-income students and is intended only to offer a different type of learning environment for students who often have the fewest options. It has managed to build bipartisan support over its first seven years, and, in May, the Legislature approved an expansion with the support of a third of the Democrats and half the Black Caucus.
Senate sponsor Al Lawson, an African-American senator who is the Democratic leader in the Senate, said: “When you have a lot of poor kids in your area that need help, and you have people saying, ‘We’re willing to work with these kids,’ it’s hard to say no. … I am the strongest possible supporter of public education. But I know that not every school works for every child.”
Those who claim that public funding of private schools is a Republican attack on public education have short memories. Both Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972 included a tuition tax credit for elementary and secondary school students in their Democratic presidential platforms, and liberal icon Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., was among its biggest advocates. In the 1960s, “freedom schools” served as an alternative to racially hostile school bureaucracies, a point not lost on the Rev. H.K. Matthews, a Florida civil rights legend. “This is a flashback of the old movement,” Matthews told thousands of Tax Credit Scholarship supporters last year on the steps of the old Florida Capitol. “It’s a continuation of the dream.”
The full article is definitely worth the read.
Voices of school choice
We have shared before some of the wonderful videos from DC’s Voices of School Choice organization. Here is another. Enjoy!
