UPDATED: Some Virginia school choice bills for 2009
The 2009 General Assembly session is in full swing. Here are a few of the school choice bills up for consideration here in Virginia this year. Let us know your thoughts!
- HB 1965 Public/Private Education Investment Tax Credit (Delegate Chris Saxman)
- HB 2104 Students with Disabilities Tuition Assistance Grant Program (Delegate Bill Janis)
- SB 956/HB1985 Autism Tuition Assistance Grant Program (Senator Walter Stosch, Delegate John O’Bannon)
- SB 1221 Businesses; tax credits for donations to nonprofit organizations providing educational funding (Senator Mark Obenshain)
UPDATE: We also wanted to mention Delegate Bob Marshall’s HJ641: School choice programs; joint subcommittee to study programs for secondary school students.
Unfortunately with this year’s budget, it appears that new studies will not be approved, however, we appreciate Delegate Marshall’s efforts to provide the Commonwealth further study and consideration of the benefits and impacts of greater school choice for secondary school students.
We will continue to add updates with any additional legislations.
Virginia Prepares for 2009 Legislative Session
With the 2008 elections behind us, we are already preparing for the fast-approaching 2009 Virginia legislative session that begins in January.
As such, we wanted to repost some tips we had shared earlier this year for how you can get involved with School Choice Virginia and our efforts here in the Commonwealth. As we get closer to the start of sesison, we will be sharing more information and more ways you can help bring about education changes in Virginia.
1. Sign up today for our email newsletters. Also encourage your friends and family to sign up on our website: www.schoolchoiceva.com. We will send out periodic email updates with action alerts, news and school choice event notices, as well as other ways in which you can get involved in helping to bring affordable and available educational options to Virginia.
2. Write letters to the editor of your local paper. Getting the message to the media from parents and families who support educational choice is an important step. Lawmakers and education leaders read the editorial pages. Seeing letters supporting educational choice written by neighbors from in their communities can be a strong influence. Letters should generally be 200-300 words, though papers vary on their requirements. School Choice Virginia can help you find contact information for submitting your letters.
3. Write a letter to your state delegate and senator sharing your support for school choice. You can contact us at School Choice Virginia, or look up your legislator’s contact information online here. Personal stories about how educational choices have affected your child or your family can be very powerful for lawmakers.
4. Let us know about educational news making headlines in your area. Every day we try and read the headlines from around the Commonwealth, but sometimes you may catch a story that we miss. We encourage you to share these stories with us so we can share them with others or respond to them in a timely manner.
5. Stay up to date on school choice news and information via our website: www.schoolchoiceva.com. We have just recently launched our site, but in the coming weeks and months, we will be adding lots more links and information on how individuals can help make a difference for educational choice in Virginia.
