Education and Workforce Development Task Force: Policy Prescriptions to Address Economic and Health Care Challenges in the Face of COVID-19
The Education and Workforce Development Task Force details policy suggestions to provide more accessible education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Education Savings Account Act allows parents to use the funds that would have been allocated to their child at their resident school district for an education program of the parents’ choosing. To help parents mitigate the costs of providing their children with a quality education while taxpayer-funded schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, states can extend existing ESAs to homeschoolers or include homeschoolers in new programs.
Due to the differences in each state’s homeschooling laws, homeschoolers in some states may oppose attempts to make homeschoolers eligible to receive state education dollars. The authors encourage you to reach out to homeschool organizations in your state in advance to discuss this with them.
Digital Teaching and Learning Plan
This bill requires the State Board of Education to develop a digital teaching and learning plan to prepare the state to implement a state-wide initiative that will result in dramatic improvements in student achievement.
Had more states prepared digital teaching and learning plans, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our educational system might have been at least somewhat mitigated.
Resolution Supporting Homeschooling Freedom
The Resolution Supporting Homeschooling Freedom supports the right of parents to homeschool without undue regulatory burdens or intrusions from the state. Now that the coronavirus pandemic has made us all homeschoolers, it is especially important to make sure we show our support for our homeschool families.
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Homeschool Credential Recognition Act
Qualified homeschool graduates are missing out on postsecondary educational and career opportunities because state and local government policies fail to recognize a homeschool diploma and transcript as sufficiently documenting a high school level education.
As many students don’t know when they will be returning to their brick-and-mortar schools during the coronavirus pandemic, it is important to make sure that any educational gains they make are recognized.
Statewide Online Education Act
The Statewide Online Education Program is created to enable eligible students to earn high school graduation credit through the completion of publicly funded online courses. The Statewide Online Education Program is designated as a program of the public education system.
The coronavirus pandemic has made providing opportunities for online education more important than ever. The Online Education Program Act make that reality.
The Virtual Public Schools Act
The Virtual Public Schools Act provides families with an alternative to access additional educational resources to improve academic achievement and must be recognized as public schools and provided equitable treatment and resources as any other public school in the state. Virtual school are an independent public school in which the school uses technology in order to deliver a significant portion of instruction to its students via the Internet in a virtual or remote setting.
Much like the Online Education Program Act, expanding opportunities in the virtual space during these trying times of pandemic are paramount.
Policy prescriptions developed by our members can be found in ALEC Connect.