Education Savings Accounts for Military Families

Not every situation when it comes to a child’s education is the same. It’s not a one-size-fits-all, especially when it comes to the families of those brave men and women who serve in our Unites States Military. Unlike in the civilian world where our children are sent to a school of our choosing and may remain there as they build a long-lasting relationship with their teachers and peers, military families face the uncomfortable and many times inconvenient situation of having to move around much more often than usual. This means that the children have to change their environment, schools, friends, teachers on a constant basis.

There’s no settling down for these children. It’s obvious the negative effects that this can have on a child and their education, social life, and even mental health. It is noted in the TPC Journal that military children move and change schools as much as 6-9 times from the start of kindergarten to Highschool Graduation. Although the 1944 GI Bill helps students who proceed unto getting a College education, not much has been done for the earlier stages of their education as approximately  90% of the 1.2 million school-aged children that come from Military families are constantly being moved around the public school system across the country.

As a nation, we need to look towards accommodating the families and children of those who choose to serve. No one who serves in any branch should have to worry about whether their child is getting the education they need while already having to deal with the pressures that serving in the US Military demands.

Senator Scott (R-SC), along with two others Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) have just recently proposed the “Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act of 2019”, a Bill that will highly favor families that are dealing with such circumstances. This legislation would allow for alternative educational options whereas parents will have more control and be able to customize their children’s educational experience according to their specific needs and circumstances. This would be done through a savings account worth $6,000 per year that can be spent towards a qualified educational service provider for things such as private schools, private online learning programs, private tutoring, and etc. These funds would come from already existing funds allocated in the “Federal Impact Aid Program”, a program that already provides funding for the education of children that come from military families. In any case, these funds would have been used for those same students to attend public schools which at times are underperforming or unsafe. However, with this Bill, it would instead allow for parents to use those same funds in order to customize their children’s education specific to their individual needs.