EXECUTIVE ORDER EXPANDS SCHOOL CHOICE OPPORTUNITIES FOR MILITARY FAMILIES
Back in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would help military families choose their own schools, including helping pay for religious schools.
There are a lot of school choice options, including religious schools, charter schools, magnet schools, and voucher programs, which are titled Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).
Schools for military families can be a little hard to access, but with the executive order that Trump implemented, it can help them a bit and can let them choose if they want it to be a private, public, charter, or even religious school option.
Helping Military Families to Have School Choice
The current administration is working to give school options for military families, as stated in the executive order signed in January, “Review any available mechanisms under which military-connected families may use funds from the Department of Defense to attend schools of their choice, including private, faith-based, or public charter schools, and submit a plan to the president describing such mechanisms.”
However, there is still no national proposal that has been put in place, and some military families have taken action to access outside school for military kids, depending on local laws.
The state of Georgia is helping military families have school choice due to the Quality Basic Education Act, which helps military families access schools of their choosing.
Tiffany Kelley, an Air Force milspouse, explained that her family is now able to choose schools of their choice stating, "Georgia does it right, in my opinion. You pick the school; they give you three choices."
The Quality Basic Education Act helps military families who are living on a military base to enroll in a public school they are not zoned for, and without an official address, which makes Georgia one of the states that helps military families to have a school choice.
Another military family located in Florida said that, "If I didn't have that option to use the voucher, I would not be able to afford to homeschool."
Cella Logan applied for the voucher program that she heard from a school liaison officer (SLO), and they got approved, but there were some issues in using the voucher.
"Utilizing the voucher was the challenge," she said. So she started to make calls, first to the program administrators, then to the Florida Department of Education, and got nowhere. "As soon as I talked to my legislators, within three weeks, it was taken care of," said Logan.
Where Do the Funds Come From?
The executive order doesn’t specify where the funds would come from, and the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) is worried that the federal impact aid would be used to fund the program of the executive order.
For those who don’t know, the NAFIS is a nonprofit organization that helps to advocate for impact aid for about 1,200 schools that serve military kids.
"These private schools have the option to discriminate based on a variety of factors. Public schools do not discriminate against students who enroll," said Nicole Russell, the executive director of NAFIS.
NAFIS is worried that if the funds are given directly to military families to use for private or religious schools, then the money might come from the public schools that also serve military kids, where these schools are already relying on the impact aid.
Military Families Don’t Always Have Options
Not every state has legislation in place to help military families with school choice. In fact, schools often differ from one another, not offering the same options to all military families.
Military families might also face additional hurdles, such as if they use a voucher and leave the public school, they could lose the rights that come with it. This is similar to what happens with the Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The average cost of a private elementary/middle school is $12,790, and the cost jumps to $15,344 for high school. This can make education quite costly for military families, as most vouchers don’t cover the tuition in full.
What Do Military Families Need?
About thirty states have tried to help military families, allowing flexible enrollment rules before they find housing. However, it’s important to note that not all states are taking the same approach.
Military families want the best for their kids, and that’s for sure. And this is a call for the government to have a plan in place so that schools for military families are easier to access wherever they go. If the Trump administration brings school choice as a national program, then they have to make sure that it is done carefully.
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