Legislative Lowdown
Education Savings Accounts are Coming to Virginia – Maybe
When Virginia residents surface from holiday celebrations, they should check out this message from the Virginia Education Opportunity Alliance.
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| The 2023 General Assembly will begin on January 11, 2023. It is critically important that we let our legislators know we want very specific changes in our education system. Here’s the challenge for us, we are hearing that many legislators are hesitant to support education freedom because they aren’t sure voters want more options in education. We need to let legislators know that is categorically false!! Please contact your legislators to let them know you want parents to have more choices for educating their children, such as Education Success Accounts (ESA) and expansion of the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit (EISTC). You can find information about your legislator here. For your convenience, we have written a draft letter/email you can download and edit to fit your voice. You can find it here. The recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) report card demonstrated that Virginia children lost tremendous ground in reading and math since 2017 (see chart below courtesy of Bacon’s Rebellion), long before the intense learning loss they suffered during the COVID shutdown. |
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| Governor Youngkin recently spoke about this travesty, “The NAEP results are another loud wake-up call: our nation’s children have experienced catastrophic learning loss, and Virginia’s students are among the hardest hit.” The Governor and the Virginia Department of Education have already begun to address the challenges that lie ahead. But what do families do now? Children in elementary school and middle school need our help now! These results are part of a systemic problem within our public school system. It took years to get here, and it will take years to recover. Please contact your legislator today to let them know you want more choices for educating your children, such as Education Success Accounts (ESA) and expansion of the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit (EISTC).In order of priority, there are several ways you can contact your legislator:1. Meet with them one on one 2. Write them a personal letter 3. Send them an email 4. Call them if you do not know your legislator’s contact info, you can click here. For your convenience, we have written a draft letter/email you can edit to fit your voice. You can find it here. The battle for our children’s future did not end on election day in 2021. This battle is ongoing and it will take every one of us to win it. Thanks for all you do to make Virginia a better place, Craig DiSesa Executive Director Virginia Education Opportunity Alliance |
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