As parents and students go through the second week of coronavirus-related school closures, what was once known as “schooling” has become a scavenger hunt. Families and schools around the country are searching for web sites, e-books, and other tools to offer instruction to children while nearly every family is homebound.
All parents, teachers,
and students are making adjustments during this period. Families using
education savings accounts, however, are used to seeking out learning
experiences that meet a child’s unique needs and then adjusting as
circumstances change—so these parents and students are quickly adapting as the
pandemic is forcing them to alter a student’s daily routine.
With an education savings account, a state deposits a portion of a child’s funds from the state education formula in private account that parents use to buy education products and services for their student. Lawmakers in Arizona and four other states—Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee—have made accounts available to eligible families.
The Bradfords were
among the first families to use an education savings account in North Carolina,
and even now during the pandemic, the accounts are providing Liz and her
daughter, Libby, significant flexibility. “The world has been turned upside
down in her little mind,” Liz says, but the Bradfords continue to use Libby’s
account to provide education therapies and even virtual instruction.
“After we had our first lesson with the speech therapist, Libby was thrilled. It shows her that there is some normalcy,” Liz says.
Libby Bradford and Dana Corcoran, Immaculata Catholic School principal
Libby, age 10, has
beta-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration, an extremely rare
condition that confines her to a wheelchair. Libby communicates using a device
that traces her eye movements. Remarkably, since she began using an account, she
has started reading and even begun to spell words.
“The child is making
some leaps and bounds that no one thought possible,” Liz says.
Now that teaching has
moved online, “we’re making it work,” Liz says, “truly because we can make it
work” with an account.
Wendy Smith* is making
similar adjustments in Arizona using an account. “School-wise, I am spending
more time with the kids doing educational games,” she says. She is still using
traditional curricular materials such as Singapore math books, but she says, “we
are taking the time we would have been using with driving and events and using
it for family time.”
“Really, there is so
much to do and try, we don’t have enough hours in the day for it all,” she
says.
Meanwhile, like many
traditional school families, the Bradfords continue to interact with Libby’s
teachers with video chat programs and recorded lessons. “Teachers are available
at a certain time [each day] to answer questions. Specifically for Libby, we
adapt what they do,” Liz says.
The biggest challenge
right now? “Having happy kids,” Liz says. “She thrives off the other kids and
seeing them.”
Yet the accounts offer
hope because Libby can continue participating in some of the critical parts of
her routine. “She loves to learn for leaning’s sake, and she’s going to ride
this out,” Liz says.
Wendy’s family is also
optimistic. “It seems our typical school philosophy—to try new things, learn,
and find excitement about the world around us with whatever brains and tools we
have on hand—applies very well for times like COVID-19,” she says.
The accounts are
helping families adjust even as school buildings are closed and families remain
indoors for extended stretches of time. Parents and students need to be
flexible as the news changes from day to day, and the accounts offer stability
as families make decisions about online instruction and care for children with
special needs.
Lawmakers in Arizona
and around the U.S. should consider how education savings account families have
adjusted so quickly to changes during the last two weeks and make traditional
schooling look more like the versatile accounts. Policymakers should make sure
education is even more flexible after the quarantine than it was during the
pandemic.
*Name withheld due to the data breach that exposed Arizona education
savings account families’ information.
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