In this issue of the CEG Education Reform Newsletter:
Public School News and Notes -- Knowing Your Options: Joint and Dual Enrollment
Private School Issues – Knowing Your Options: Types of Private Education
Homeschool Resources – Everyone Loves a Discount!
Commentary – School Vouchers: A Question of Justice for All
Introducing…– Dr. Ben Scafidi – Director, Center for an Educated Georgia
Public School News and Notes
Knowing Your Options: Joint and Dual Enrollment
This is the fourth in a CEG series on public school options for students and parents that will run through November.
About Joint and Dual Enrollment Programs
Joint and dual enrollment programs allow for qualified high school juniors and seniors to receive academic credit at a participating state college, university, or technical school while still in high school. Joint enrollment arrangements allow only for college credit to be earned by the student, while dual enrollment programs allow for academic credits to be awarded for both college and high school. For those driven to succeed in college, this can be a great opportunity to acclimate to post-secondary academics and get a head start in coursework.
Are There Admission Requirements?
Students choosing to participate in a joint or dual enrollment program must be academically eligible to enroll in the college or university that they choose to attend. For specific admission requirements, contact the college you are interested in directly.
How Do I Enroll My Child?
Students interested in a joint or dual enrollment program should first contact their high school guidance counselor for more information and a list of area schools that will accept high school students. After the student chooses a post-secondary school, they should apply for admittance. Once accepted, students must enroll in Georgia Department of Education approved courses in order to receive credit for the academic work.
How Are Joint and Dual Enrollment Programs Funded?
Both joint and dual enrollment programs are funded by state lottery funds, but in different ways.
Joint enrollment is funded through the HOPE Grant. Students must meet all HOPE Grant eligibility criteria and any costs are the responsibility of the student.
Students enrolling in a dual enrollment program are funded through the ACCEL grants. As in joint enrollment, students must meet all eligibility criteria for the ACCEL grant to receive funds. However, if a student wishes to pursue joint enrollment without ACCEL funds, they may do so by paying all costs out-of-pocket.
Students do not have to repay grants received from either program.
Learn more from these resources:
GeorgiaCollege411.com -- Entering College as a Joint Enrollment Student
More information of the ACCEL program from the Georgia Department of Education
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Private School Issues
Knowing Your Options: Types of Private Education
About Private Education
A private school is a school that is not managed by the state or local government. As the name suggests, these schools are owned and operated by a private entity, whether it is a local church, non-profit group, or for-profit corporation.
In Georgia, there are over 630 private schools. While the majority of schools are in the metro Atlanta area, 110 of Georgia’s 159 counties have private education options from which parents and students may choose.
There are two types of private schools: religious-based (sectarian) and independent (non-sectarian). Religious-based schools have some affiliation with a community of faith and many times have a theological component to their curriculum. Some require that a student be a practitioner of a certain faith to attend. In Georgia, options include Catholic schools, other Christian schools, Jewish academies, and Islamic schools.
Independent schools are not affiliated with any religious order and do not make religious education a part of their curriculum. Many independent schools are geared towards specific student populations. In Georgia, there are schools specifically for students with special needs, for students with military aspirations, and preparatory schools for those pursuing a rigorous post-secondary education, among others.
Are There Admissions Requirements?
Most private schools have an admissions procedure, but these vary from school to school. Some will have complex applications requiring everything from test scores to letters of recommendation, while others will simply require that your child have a name, address, and phone number on file.
Use CEG’s private school database to find a school near you and contact them for more information.
How Do I Enroll My Child?
Like admission requirements, enrollment procedures vary by school To find out specific requirements, please contact the school directly. Use CEG’s private school database to find a school near you. Generally, you should start shopping for a private school early. Many end enrollment early in the calendar year (February-April) in anticipation of the new school year, which usually begins in August. Beginning the application process early will ensure that your child’s transition to a new school is as smooth as possible.
How is Private Education Funded?
Private education is funded primarily through tuition and fees paid by the families of students enrolled. These costs vary from school to school. The average yearly tuition at private schools in Georgia is about $6,600 and range from a low of $3,000 to a high of $40,000 per year.
Paying for a private education can be a daunting thought. However, there are two state programs that can help. First, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship (SB 10) allows public school students with special needs to transfer to a private school using a state-funded scholarship. Second, the Tuition Tax Credit Scholarship program (HB 1133) allows for student scholarship organizations to grant scholarships for public school students to enroll in private school. These scholarships are funded by generous donations from individual and corporate donors. Contact the Center for an Educated Georgia for help with determining which option is best for your situation.
Additionally, many private schools have financial aid departments to help families. Contact your private school of choice for more information.
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Homeschool Resources
Everyone Loves a Discount!
Homeschool parents are among the hardest working teachers in education. One of the many unique challenges they face each day is the need to pay for school expenses out-of-pocket. Once curriculum, teaching aids, and everyday supplies are taken into account, homeschool wallets can begin to feel a bit light.
However, many companies that offer discounts to traditional public and private school educators also extend those benefits to homeschools as well. Thehomeschoolmom.com has a great list of companies nationwide that offer discounts to those looking to purchase products for use in a homeschool.
In Georgia, state law requires that all parents wishing to homeschool their children file an intent form with the local board of education. This intent form is often all that you need to prove that you are an educator and have the ability to claim the discount.
And if you are not sure that a local store offers educator discounts to homeschools, just ask!
External links are provided as a resource only and their presence does not constitute an endorsement of content by the Center for an Educated Georgia. Should you encounter objectionable content, please contact us.
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Commentary
The following is an updated Op-Ed by Georgia Family Council President Randy Hicks originally published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on November 11, 2007.
School Vouchers: A Question of Justice for All
By Randy Hicks
The defeat of a referendum in Utah last November to give scholarships worth up to $3,000 per student to all kids in Utah public schools to have the choice to transfer to a private school if their neighborhood school wasn’t meeting their needs was not – as many want to claim – a defeat for the school choice movement. It was a defeat for the children in Utah.
Hope was snatched away from parents hungry for options because teachers unions from across the country, including the powerful, Washington-based National Education Association, poured millions of dollars into a campaign to deny parents options.
It ought to break our hearts – and haunt our consciences – that thousands of children in Georgia and other states are locked into poor performing schools and have no options for improving their academic situation. We must remember that academic achievement is the gateway to professional success and economic security; so when we barricade kids in poor performing schools, we are usually denying them access to a promising future and perpetuating cycles of poverty and suffering for their families.
Are we as a so society okay with this? Are we content to stand by watching thousands of poor kids flounder academically while powerful special interest groups fight a turf war?
This is not to say that there aren’t some great teachers throughout our country and in many of these struggling schools (There are, and they deserve our support and encouragement.) And it’s certainly not to suggest that we abandon public education. On the contrary, we should continue to push hard to create the most effective education system in the world. The new economy demands it and our children deserve it.
But contrary to the claims of so many in the wake of the Utah vote, vouchers do not destroy public education or leave our students far worse off.
For example, in Florida, low-performing schools facing competition from vouchers made significantly greater test-score gains than similarly low-performing schools not facing voucher competition. In a 2001 study of the Milwaukee voucher system, Caroline Hoxby of Harvard University found that public schools with greater exposure to voucher competition had test-score gains over a three-year period that outpaced other public schools by significant margins
One way that school choice opponents gain support is to claim that vouchers “bleed money” from the public schools. Guess what? Again, the opposite is true. No state or city with school choice has seen its public school budgets go down and per student spending almost always goes up!
So, when you combine the research just cited, here’s the encouraging picture it paints: when vouchers are introduced into a community, per-student spending increases and so does student achievement.
How, by anyone’s definition, is that harmful for public schools?
I’m not entirely surprised by the result in Utah. Change – even positive change – is difficult. And it’s made more difficult by scare tactics brought on by those who want to maintain the status quo.
The good news regarding school choice and vouchers far outweighs the bad. A record number of children – and school districts – are benefiting from school choice programs in more states than ever. This includes nearly 1600 special needs children who are taking advantage of the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship program, a voucher endorsed by the editorial board of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Moreover, no electorate has ever overturned an operating school choice program – because they work.
Finally, I’m tired of surrendering. We’ve been in a perpetual state of surrender for decades when it comes to educating our children. We’re surrendering to the status quo when it comes to test scores and performance outcomes. We’re surrendering to negative trends. And in so doing, we’re surrendering our children to mediocrity at best and terrible suffering at worst.
Surrender brings about more failure. School choice programs bring opportunity and, in many cases, justice.
Randy Hicks is President of the Georgia Family Council. He can be contacted at randy@gafam.org.
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Introducing…
Dr. Ben Scafidi – Director, Center for an Educated Georgia
The Center for an Educated Georgia would like to announce that economist and Georgia education expert Dr. Ben Scafidi has recently joined our staff as Director.
Dr. Scafidi is an associate professor and Director of the Education Policy Center in the J. Whitney Bunting School of Business at Georgia College & State University. He is also a Fellow with the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and is a member of Georgia’s Charter Advisory Committee. His research has focused on education and urban policy. Most recently, Dr. Scafidi was Principal Investigator on the study “The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimate for the Nation and All Fifty States.” Previously he served as the Education Policy Advisor for Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and served on the staff of both of Georgia Governor Roy Barnes’ Education Reform Study Commissions. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia and his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Notre Dame. Ben and Lori Scafidi and their four children reside in Milledgeville.
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