RI GOP Calls for School Choice, Education Savings Accounts to “Empower Families” During COVID
Friday, September 04, 2020
Rhode Island House Republicans announced on Thursday they are calling for school choice initiatives to "empower families" as the state wrestles with providing in-person -- and online education -- during the coronavirus crisis.
“Education lays the foundation for human development,” said House Minority Leader Blake Filippi. “It is the benchmark of progress within families and our communities. It is the link between cultures, our history and advancements in science. The challenges remote learning presents in overall childhood development, in enhanced socialization skills, and in children’s mental health cannot be understated. Each child needs to learn in an environment conducive to their specific needs, and government’s role is to provide the best setting possible for learning and growth.”
"While we strongly agree that districts should embrace in-person learning, we feel that promoting lawsuits will only result in further delays and unnecessary expenditures in legal fees for districts,” he added. “Therefore, we are offering these legislative alternatives to address the issue of education authority within the state, as is our charge per Rhode Island laws. If the House, Senate and Governor are serious about ensuring the best education for our children under the current state of emergency, and in turn embrace our efforts, our initiatives can become law within a week while still following all legal House Rules."
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On Thursday, House Republicans said they will immediately file legislation to "address the pressing educational challenges brought on by COVID-19."
The Republican plan would: 1) establish Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), which are restricted receipt accounts, funded by tax and CARES Act dollars, but managed by families, to provide additional education tools and home schooling to students in districts without in-person learning; and 2) provide public school choice to parents of any school that fails to provide in-person learning despite a state determination it is safe to do so.
The legislation would provide options for parents in response to a number of Rhode Island school districts announcing limited educational opportunities for their students in the 2020/2021 school year. The legislation is intended to ensure that "children do not fall behind from remote learning."
In any school district that does not provide in-person learning, parents would have two options under the GOP plan.
First, parents could continue with remote learning, and will be able to utilize ESAs to pay for tutoring, technology, supplies and other extra help measures.
Second, parents could opt to home-school their children. ESAs would be utilized to fund this home-schooling program.
A third option would be provided to parents in schools that do not provide in-person instruction despite a state determination it is safe to do so. Those parents would be able to send their child to any other public school offering in-person learning, that has capacity, and the money would follow the child to the receiving district.
Funding for these programs would come from the existing per pupil school funding, as well as the utilization of existing CARES Act funding held by the state of Rhode Island and available for these purposes.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would be directed to enact emergency regulation to carry out the intent of this legislation, if enacted.
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