By State Representative Wes Cantrell (R-Woodstock)
(1,957 words)
I believe in and fully support public education. I am a proud product of Georgia public schools and a former Georgia public school teacher. Public school teaching has also been the career choice for three generations of my family. If I had not sensed a calling into ministry, I am confident that I would have spent my entire adult life as a public school educator. The county in which I reside has one of the best public school systems in our state, and as such, I would never support any legislation that would negatively impact our public schools. More than 90 percent of Georgia students attend our public schools, and most of them are satisfied with the education they receive.
However, even the best schools, public or private, cannot address the needs of every student. Children are unique. We must find ways to meet a child’s unique educational needs by encouraging parental involvement and empowering them with more flexible choices. There will always be a small percentage of students who need a personalized education plan. This is what House Bill 60, or the Georgia Personalized Education Plan Act, is all about.
We ask our public schools to do the impossible. They are required to provide a quality education for every student who shows up at their door, regardless of learning style, attention difficulties, disabilities or special needs. It is time we provide some options that will remove some of these challenges from our public schools, which will result in improved academic outcomes for those who need a more customized approach and for those who choose to remain in their public school.
When I taught public school, there were a few students in every class who really should not have been in that class. Special needs, learning disabilities, attention problems and behavioral issues resulted in them slowing down the progress of the other students in the class. Because of these few students who were in the wrong environment, the rest of the students were inhibited from reaching their full potential in that class. If we could have provided better options for these few students, the rest of the class would have benefited tremendously.
Georgia Personalized Education Plan Act Overview
HB 60 would establish the option for a personalized education plan (PEP) account, which would be an account administered by the Georgia Student Finance Commission on behalf of a participating student. A PEP account could only be used for educational purposes approved by HB 60. The annual contribution to this account would be the exact amount of the state portion of that particular student’s funding. The school would keep any local and federal funding.
This bill has been crafted with public schools at heart. Research shows that public schools benefit in states that support educational choice. Academic achievement increases in public schools, class sizes are smaller and the funding per student increases.
Under the proposed law, all students would have to be currently enrolled in a Georgia public school to apply for these accounts. The following students would be eligible and given priority for these accounts: students who are enrolled in a school which has been in the bottom 25 percent of school performance for at least the past two years; students with a family income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is approximately $50,000 for a family of four; students in or adopted from foster care; students who have a parent who is an active duty military service member; students with a disability and an Individualized Education Program (IEP). If space remains, students who attend school in a district that does not offer the option of 100 percent in person instruction for at least a semester would also be eligible.
This legislation designates the number of students who would be eligible, which is one quarter of one percent of total public school enrollment (around 4,300 students). This number would increase each year at .25 percent until reaching a cap of 2.5 percent in 10 years. An individual district’s cap is .5 percent per year with a .5 percent increase each year until it reaches a max of four percent. If the school district’s enrollment is less than the average district enrollment for our state, they could choose to cut the cap in half to one quarter of one percent with an ultimate cap of 2.5 percent in 10 years.
The Georgia Student Finance Commission would be authorized to provide oversight, and these tax dollars would not be given directly to the families. Funding would be made available to qualifying students through an online portal of pre-approved vendors, such as private schools, tutors, therapists, textbooks, among others. The funding from the PEP account would be transmitted directly from the state to the approved education provider. If a family wishes to use a provider who is not on the pre-approved list, the family would make payment out of pocket and then submit receipts for reimbursement, and the Parent Review Committee would review the receipts to determine if the education expense is approved.
Furthermore, there would be an annual audit, students in the program would be tested to measure effectiveness, parental satisfaction would also be measured annually, and an annual report of the program would be generated to measure the program’s overall effectiveness. Information on participating schools and the number of PEP students at each school would be made available to the public.
Funding Benefits of School-Choice
Since the bill requires that the General Assembly fully fund Quality Basic Education (QBE) formulas for public schools, the bill would not affect the funding of public schools and would further incentivize the General Assembly to continue fully funding QBE. If the General Assembly does not fully fund QBE, the cap would be frozen until it does. Since students would be required to be currently enrolled in a Georgia public school, there would be no additional funding required from the state. These expenses are already in the budget.
When it comes to funding, I believe in both/and not either/or. I believe we can continue to fully fund QBE and provide options for the small percentage of students who need them. When I got elected, I immediately began lobbying for fully funding QBE. I met with former Governor Nathan Deal privately on two different occasions to try to persuade him. I organized the members of the House Education Committee a few years ago to send a letter to the governor stating why we thought it was important. This goal was finally achieved for the first time in history in 2018. Governor Brian Kemp and the General Assembly continued to fully fund QBE, not to mention all the other additional funds to the K-12 budget, such as raises for teachers and funding for security measures.
Of course, the pandemic led to a cautionary cut of 10 percent across the board. However, we restored 60 percent of that cut in the amended budget. When you combine that with the $411 million from the CARES Act, our public schools ended up receiving about $30 million more than what would have been the 100 percent funding of QBE. For the current budget, we restored 60 percent of the original cut, which left us with roughly $383 million from fully funding QBE out of the state budget. However, our public schools will receive $1.7 billion in CARES Act funds this year, resulting in about $1.3 billion over fully funding QBE. Any argument about funding this year is disingenuous at best. The strong conservative leadership in the General Assembly and the Governor’s Office has led to record funding of K-12 education in Georgia, and I am extremely proud of this. Since fully funding QBE for the first time I history in 2018, the General Assembly has continued to increase funding to K-12 education. In fact, overall funding for education has increased 26 percent since 2018; total funding in 2018 was $9.27 billion; and this year, total funding for K-12 education will be $11.67 billion.
In Georgia, schools would average an increase of around $3,800 in funding for each student who qualifies and uses a PEP account. This is the average marginal cost to educate each student, minus the average state funding amount per student. Many empirical studies have also proven that these programs are financially beneficial for the state.
Additionally, a recently released study specific to our state conservatively estimates more than $1.8 billion in economic benefit to Georgia if just five percent of our total enrollment was allowed to participate in a PEP account. The economic impact is realized because of increases in academic achievement, increases in academic attainment through higher graduation rates and a huge social impact due to a corresponding reduction in crime.
Studies and Research for School-Choice
These PEP accounts are extremely popular across the country. Five States have PEP programs of some kind: Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee. And, many other states are currently considering them. A January 2018 nationwide survey shows a 75 percent support for PEP accounts with only 19 percent opposed. Support is overwhelmingly strong across the following variety of groups: Republicans, 81 percent; Democrats, 70 percent; Independents, 78 percent; Hispanics, 87 percent; African-Americans, 73 percent; millennials, 77 percent; Generation X, 80 percent. Parental satisfaction with PEP accounts in Arizona is also telling, and surveys have determined a 100 percent approval based on the following approval rates: 71 percent are highly satisfied, 19 are satisfied, 10 percent are somewhat satisfied, and 0 percent were unsatisfied to any degree.
HB 60 was also crafted based on research about the impacts of PEP programs. Out of 153 empirical studies, 130, or 85 percent, found positive effects, 18, or 12 percent, found no visible effect, while only eight, or five percent, found any negative effect. Studies show that academic achievement is raised for participants and non-participants alike. Positive effects have been found for educational attainment, and majority of parents report an increase of satisfaction for their child’s educational progress. Educational choice programs also lead to more diverse schools as the majority of studies show that students in these programs move from more segregated schools into less segregated schools.
In 2003, Florida began implementing many educational choice programs. Today, Florida is recognized as the most educational choice-friendly state in the country with the highest percentage of students participating. Georgia has implemented some modest educational choice, including a tax credit and special needs scholarships. Georgia has shown modest improvement, yet Florida has shown remarkable improvement during that same time. This is just one indicator that high quality public education and educational choice can co-exist very successfully.
The Case for School-Choice
Finally, PEP accounts give parents the widest number of choices to address the specific needs of their children. It is the 21st century, and Georgia parents need a diverse portfolio of options to choose from when deciding the best educational path for their child. There are many innovative options when it comes to educating kids today, and parents should not be boxed into doing things only one way. This is especially true for students at under-performing schools, low income families, foster care families, military families, students with special needs and students who do not have access to in-person instruction. When it comes to education, I believe we can fully fund public schools and, at the same time, provide options for that small percentage of students who need a personalized education plan. Since Georgia began to embrace educational choice in the 2000s with the tax credit scholarship program and the special needs scholarship program, we have seen steady improvement overall academically and financially. Georgia has proven that we can fully fund public education and provide an appropriate level of options for students who need them.
Representative Wes Cantrell represents the citizens of District 22, which includes portions of Cherokee, Forsyth and Fulton counties. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014 and currently serves as Secretary of the Information and Audits Committee. He also serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications, Small Business Development, Education and Juvenile Justice committees.
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