Guest Author
Having lived in Florida since 2023 with three children, each with different educational needs, I greatly appreciate the K-12 learning options families receive from the state’s education choice scholarship programs.
Every student in the nation deserves the same opportunity. The Educational Choice for Children Act, legislation currently being considered in Congress, would help provide it.
When my husband and I relocated from New York to Texas nearly two decades ago, we moved into a wonderful neighborhood that was zoned for a highly regarded public school for our first-born son to attend. We thought everything would be perfect.
Then life threw us a curveball. Almost as soon as James began kindergarten, he struggled tremendously. He rarely spoke in class and had difficulty learning to read. I wanted him to receive services for dyslexia, but the school wanted to wait until third grade. I realized this school was not a good fit for my son.
We needed a different option, one that could meet his learning needs.
Fortunately, we eventually found a private school that specialized in students with language-based learning differences. James thrived in that new environment. Four years after being unable to read the word “cat” in first grade, he was reading 155 words per minute. He became a different kid and was a happy and confident learner.
However, it cost a lot to attend the school. Our family had to make financial sacrifices to ensure James received an education that met his individual needs. Those pressures increased with the birth of twin siblings. Each had their own learning challenges: Vanessa has similar issues as James, while Max is on the gifted side.
We needed even more options — and the ability to afford them.
Fast-forward to 2023, when we moved to Weeki Wachee. Thanks to Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship, we were able to afford to send all our children to the same school of our choice, Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School. Max and Vanessa are thriving there because it can meet their unique needs. And James, who graduated last year, is enrolled in Pasco-Hernando State College, where he made straight-“A’s” his first semester and is studying to be a mechanical engineer.
Florida is magical because it offers families so many different options. It’s like putting a puzzle together to ensure each student achieves their potential. In Texas, we would have had to decide which child needs a certain school more. In Florida, you don’t have to make that tradeoff. The scholarships put more schools within your reach.
Texas finally has adopted education choice scholarships. But what about all the families in states that don’t provide similar opportunities?
The Education Choice for Children Act (ECCA) is a bill in Congress that would create a federal tax credit for corporations and private individuals who give charitable donations to nonprofit organizations that provide education scholarships to K-12 students in all 50 states who qualify. The concept is similar to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship that began in 2002.
Families could use the scholarships for private school tuition, but also tutoring, special needs services, books, education technology, online courses or curriculum materials. This would give them the spending flexibility they need to customize their children’s education — to assemble the pieces of the “puzzle.”
For those who live in states without education choice scholarships, it would be liberating. For those who live in states like Florida that already have those programs, ECCA will increase the funding available to scholarship students.
Public opinion polls have consistently shown a majority of families support having the ability to choose their children’s public or private school, which should come as no surprise.
Never underestimate a parent. They will do what they need to do for their child to succeed. They will find a way. Passing ECCA would help them find it.
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Alicia Giordano is an educator who lives in Weeki Wachee. She served for three years on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Continuing Advisory Committee for Special Education.
