Latest news with #PromiseScholarship
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
After FAFSA hiccups, more WV students completing the financial aid application
West Virginia's Free Application for Federal Student Aid completion rate stands at 49.8%. (Getty Images) More West Virginia students are completing the college financial aid application, known as the FAFSA, following pandemic interruptions and nationwide issues with the form over the last year. According to data tracked by the National College Attainment Network, the state's Free Application for Federal Student Aid completion rate stands at 49.8%. The state now ranks 15th in the nation for students completing the FAFSA, which is up from 19th last year, according to a news release from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. Brian Weingart, senior director of financial aid at the commission, said the HEPC has worked side-by-side with schools, counselors and communities to make sure students had 'a clever path to financial aid.' HEPC credits the success to statewide partnerships. 'Whether it's through hands-on FAFSA events, real-time data tools, or text message nudges, we're meeting students where they are and helping them take that critical next step toward college. Behind every completed FAFSA is a student who's one step closer to their future,' he said. The federal government's 2024 botched rollout of the new FAFSA form prompted former Gov. Jim Justice to declare a state of emergency and suspended a requirement that college-bound high school seniors fill out the FAFSA in order to receive state financial aid, including the state's Promise Scholarship. Unlike some other states, West Virginia didn't have a statewide FAFSA mandate. Instead, the HEPC said it focused on strategic outreach and community engagement. A WV FAFSA day in February brought together more than 50 high schools and colleges. The organization also used 'TXT 4 Success,' a text message program that provides personalized guidance and nudges to help students stay on track with financial aid deadlines. 'West Virginia's success, and approach, offer a lot for other communities and states to learn from,' said Bill DeBaun, senior director at the National College Attainment Network in Washington. 'Thoughtful, coordinated efforts like these that support practitioners in districts and schools make a big difference.' West Virginia's Chancellor of Higher Education Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker added, 'We built momentum through strong partnerships with our schools and counselors, innovative tools and a shared commitment to our students' futures. I am deeply proud of our team and the many school counselors, educators, and families who have rallied around this cause. Together, we're showing what's possible when we put students first.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Protestors demand accountability from congressional Republicans in Morgantown
MORGANTOWN — Constituents of Rep. Riley Moore and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito demanded their legislators protect Medicaid and Medicare in a pair of protests outside their Morgantown offices Monday. Rep. Moore voted for a 10-year budget blueprint in the House of Representatives which cuts $800 billion from the federal budget, removing funding for government services. To make the math work, the government will have to decide what services to end. The Medicaid budget is $880 billion. The blueprint is now in the Senate for consideration. At the same time, Congress will consider collecting trillions less in funding for services provided by the federal government. The blueprint is a separate bill from one recently signed by President Donald Trump to keep the government open. 'Right now, just Medicaid is the insurance available to 40% of our children, at least 40% nationally and it might be higher in West Virginia,' Cynthia Fox, a licensed physical therapist with a high portion of patients on Medicaid, said. 'It is the largest portion of funding for people who have to reside in a nursing home because their family can no longer care for them at home.' Fox added most people don't realize private insurance and Medicaid both pay for patients to go to a nursing home for rehabilitative purposes which once completed, the patient is discharged and sent home. However, if an individual has a parent with dementia and needs to become a permanent resident in a nursing home, Medicaid will pay for that so long as the person qualifies. Cut to Medicaid would also result in nursing homes from for-profit companies who accept Medicaid pulling up stakes and leaving, Fox said, removing a care option from people who can afford private nursing care. Fox fears even if Medicaid funding isn't completely lost, insufficient funding will lead to insufficient care. 'Half of our budget in West Virginia is federally funded,' Shayla Klein, secretary for Mountaineers Indivisible, said. 'Riley Moore knows this. He was the former treasurer. He's our representative and he wants to cut funding for our federal programs. Doing any cuts to Medicaid would devastate West Virginia.' Klein's father lost his job in the steel industry during a downturn around 2011. She said her family never recovered from that. As a result, Klein herself was on Medicaid for eight years. Fortunately, due to government-funded programs like the Promise Scholarship, Medicaid and other forms of social assistance, Klein was able to lift herself up out of being on Medicaid. But her parents are still on it, she said. 'There's so many of us on Medicaid,' she said. 'If you go to the grocery store, if you go to your son's football game, you look right, you look to your left. One of you is on Medicaid.' Klein and a few others with Medicaid experiences to share went into Moore's office to discuss his actions with one of his staff members. Klein said the staff member was very receptive. While Klein and three others were inside Moore's office, Cassandra Whisenant, media relations for Mountaineers Indivisible, said a man approached and threatened to call police and start towing cars. The protest had relocated to the sidewalk after initially being told to leave the parking lot outside Moore's office. 'That's our First Amendment rights,' Cindy Peymann, a dental hygienist, said. 'There's nowhere in this parking lot that tells me not to park here or to [not] protest about what is significantly going to impact West Virginians.' Peymann herself is on Medicaid, after suffering massive rotator cuff tears that forced her to stop working. Moore's communications director, Walter Smoloski, said he had no idea who told them to leave but it was not anyone with the congressman's office. The property owner of Moore's office is Suburban Lanes Inc., according to tax records. 'I appreciate my constituents coming and engaging with staff today to share their concerns, just as I appreciate the conversations and feedback I've gotten from various individuals across the district,' Moore said. 'My team held an hour-long meeting with the protestors today. We are always happy to talk.' After dispersing, Klein and a few others went to Sen. Capito's office next. There, almost 50 people gathered to demand she protect Medicaid and Medicare. However, Capito's office told her constituents they had to set up an appointment in order to be heard. Mindy Holcomb, a health care organizer with West Virginia Citizen Action, said they had let the Senator's office know ahead of time they would be coming. Although Holcomb has spoken directly with Moore's healthcare policy advisor, Dana Richter, Holcomb and several of the other protestors wanted Capito, and Moore by extension, to hear their concerns at a town hall. NBC News reported the chair of the Republican National Congressional Committee advised Congressional Republicans to avoid town halls after angry attendees confronted lawmakers at a series of GOP town halls. So far, the only Republicans brave enough to do so have been Rep. Harriet Hageman from Wyoming and Rep. Chuck Edwards from North Carolina. 'Our representatives are voted into office by us,' Holcomb said. 'They owe us and they work for us, so they owe us some accountability for their votes. They don't work for Elon Musk and they don't work for the president. They work for the people of West Virginia and they should be held accountable to the people of West Virginia and answer the questions they have.'
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Georgia voucher program could cover biological children of families that take in foster children
The Georgia Senate approved a bill that would expand the state's voucher program to include biological and adopted children of foster parents. Getty Images Senate Republicans passed a bill they say will help encourage residents to take in foster children by giving foster parents priority access to the state's school voucher program for their biological and adopted children. Democrats, who largely opposed the voucher plan when it passed last year, criticized the plan for not benefiting foster children themselves and said it could invite fraud, waste and abuse. Under Georgia's voucher system, officially called the Promise Scholarship, parents can apply for $6,500 for academic expenses, including private school, if they pull their kids out of public school. Participating families must have an income level below four times the national poverty level and be districted into the bottom quartile of public schools in Georgia. Public education advocates argue that vouchers take money from public schools that need it and send it to private schools, which are not subject to government scrutiny. The Governor's Office of Student Achievement keeps a list of eligible schools, and applications are set to begin on Saturday. If Senate Bill 152 by Cumming Republican Greg Dolezal becomes law, foster parents will not need to meet those requirements to be eligible. Democrats said it does not look proper that the bill would not apply to foster children themselves. Instead, the benefit would apply to any biological or adopted children of foster parents. 'As we all know, typically foster children feel ostracized,' said Atlanta Democratic Sen. RaShaun Kemp. 'They come into a household where there are already relationships developed where they may feel a little jealousy in terms of the environment in which they're in. And now we're telling them to come into this house, the children of the parents can go to the private school that's down the street, to the school that they have deemed to be the better school for their children. But we're telling the foster children, no, you have to go to the school that I have found to be ineffective for my own kids. This is wrong.' Dolezal said the bill's goal is to encourage more people to take in foster children. He said including foster kids did not make sense for this bill but added that he plans to look into the idea. 'We went through a number of steps to try to work this bill in its current form to include the foster families, but everything in the bill and in the Georgia Promise Scholarship program is executed and managed by parents, the biological parents or the adopted parents of children,' he said. 'And so we are going to work in the off session to do the work that needs to be done to have that included. I believe there may be a study committee.' Dolezal sparred with Atlanta Democratic Sen. Elena Parent, who said the voucher expansion could be rife for abuse. 'Are you aware that in Florida families have used this taxpayer money for annual passes to Disney World and Universal Studios?' Parent asked. 'I can tell you I am familiar that Florida's program was so successful that it was originally implemented under Governor (Jeb) Bush that just a couple of years ago Governor (Ron) DeSantis and the Florida legislature expanded it from its limited use to be a universal program in Florida, and they have appropriated about 10 times as much funding as we have to our current program,' Dolezal said. Parent said said families in other states have taken advantage of voucher programs to buy things like electronics, video game consoles and sporting equipment. 'Senator, it sounds like we might need Elon Musk to go down to Florida and look into what they're doing down there,' Dolezal said. 'I know that Governor DeSantis has implemented a DOGE Florida bill, and I would probably say that in all areas of government, we can find examples of misappropriation of funds, and I would link arms with you in finding ways to find those.' Under the bill, families could remain eligible up to 10 years after they care for a foster child. And once a child is in the program, they remain in it until they decide to reenroll in public school. Parent implied that could lead to significant fraud. 'Would you agree with me that the language in today's bill, the way it's written, does say that a family could have a foster child for a day, then say, 'you know, it didn't work out,' and then receive the taxpayer-funded voucher for the next 15 years?' 'Senator, I think we could imagine edge cases in which that would be the case, but I know that the 2,300 families who are currently fostering in the state of Georgia are not doing it for their daily stipend that they currently get paid, but they are doing it for love of the children and for a desire to see some of the most vulnerable children in our state be taken care of,' Dolezal said. The bill will next head to the House, where it will need to pass out of committee and the full chamber before the end of the session, April 4. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why Georgia Democrats want to repeal the Promise Scholarship school voucher program
Georgia families eligible for the Promise Scholarship program have between March 1 and April 15 to apply, unless Georgia Democrats repeal Senate Bill 233, also known as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act. Georgia House Rep. Lisa Campbell (D-District 35) along with the Georgia House Democratic Caucus held a press conference Monday afternoon at the Georgia State Capitol in support of House Bill 436, which calls for the repeal. Arguments by school voucher proponents and opponents, nationally and in Georgia, tend to fall along political lines with Republicans leading the charge on school choice while Democrats tend to advocate for increased investment in public school education. Campbell and other Promise opponents say the program is not worth the $141 million investment from Georgia's education budget for fiscal year 2025-2026. They cite data on outcomes from similar programs in states like Arizona, Ohio, Louisiana and Indiana. Georgia democrats claim those states show vouchers do not hold private schools fiscally accountable, lead to lower academic outcomes, and provide students with fewer disability rights and protections. School voucher proponents such as advocacy nonprofit EdChoice claim the majority of parents want school choice options. In October 2024, the national nonprofit published survey data of American families that claims "70% of Republicans and Democrats support ESAs [education savings accounts]" like the Promise Scholarship. Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said in a recent interview, "We believe that every child learns differently." He said while many public schools may serve most students very well, the schools may not serve every single student's unique needs. Wingfield said Promise's main aim is to provide lower-income families with the financial resources to pursue alternative school options if they are dissatisfied with their assigned public school. He added that the program was not designed for families with higher incomes. He said those families can more readily exercise choice by sending students to private schools or moving to areas "with a better public school." He also noted that Georgia's program has a public school attendance requirement to limit eligible applicants, unlike other states such as Arizona, which has experienced budget shortfalls due in large part to its voucher program. Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) Senior Education Analyst Ashley Young argued that Promise's $6,500 per student (minus administrative fees) will not help impoverished families overcome the private school tuition cost barrier. According to the Education Data Initiative the average cost of K-12 private school tuition in Georgia in 2024 was $11,963. As of Feb. 8, the organization calculated that Georgia spends about $14,660 annually per K-12 public school student, which includes federal, state and local tax dollars. The Promise Scholarship amount only accounts for state funding. Families would not receive local or federal tax dollars to supplement the Promise Scholarship funds. That is if families are even awarded funds, since even those who choose to apply may have to contend with Promise demand exceeding availability. The Georgia Education Savings Authority's Promise rules and regulations greatly expanded the student eligibility pool to nearly 400,000 despite state funding for only 21,000 to 22,000 scholarship accounts. Jan. 2025: Benedictine Military School to host Savannah private, independent school job fair Another major point of contention for the GBPI and Democratic opponents of Promise is private school accountability, or perceived lack thereof. Young expressed GBPI's concern that students with disabilities who accept Promise Scholarship funds are waiving their right to a free and appropriate public education or FAPE, which is guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education's Section 504. The federal legislation does not require private schools to adhere to the full FAPE, but only requires that private schools provide "reasonable accommodations." Opponents have also raised concerns that while the state assesses public schools on students' standardized test performance, such as the Georgia Milestones Assessment System (GMAS), the state does not oversee private schools in this manner. Public schools also receive funding based on the Quality Basic Education formula, which includes enrollment numbers. Private schools are not beholden to state-mandated enrollment calculations. They are also not assessed for performance under the same College and Career Readiness Performance Index standards that Georgia public schools are. The index was also used to determine the lowest 25% of schools eligible for Promise Scholarship consideration. Wingfield pointed out that the Promise rules state that private schools must be accredited, or be in theprocess of receiving accreditation, by one of seven GESA-approved accrediting agencies, such as the Georgia Accrediting Commission or the Association of Christian Schools International. He also referred to page 25 of the Promise Act legislation that provides for private school achievement measurement through "no fewer than three nationally norm-referenced tests that measure student academic progress in math and language arts." GESA is tasked with annual assessment administration. Additionally, GESA, or an organization it choses, will also receive and collect assessment and graduation data for Promise students, whether attending private schools or homeschool programs, so that the state can group the data by "grade level, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and English language proficiency." As families review the dense information within the Promise Scholarship Family Handbook, Savannah schools on the approved private school list have application process deadlines that may have already passed or are well underway. For example Savannah Country Day School's priority admissions deadline for 2025-2026 has already passed. The school's Second-Round Admissions Deadline is March 26, yet the Promise scholarship application window runs March 1 through April 15. Families will find out if their student will receive funds in "early 2025," according to the Promise Family Handbook. Country Day does consider applications on a space available basis beyond the second-round deadline, but its initial admission assessment dates ended on Jan. 25. The school's application and assessment fee is $175. Benedictine Military School's admission process deadline for the 2025-2026 academic year (which requires a $125 application fee as well as assessments on specific dates that have already passed) was December 2024. Risen Savior Christian Academy's admissions applications went online Jan. 15. The Pooler private school sent out first-round admissions decisions Feb. 7. If space is limited, applicants may be placed in a waiting pool, for which families would still need to pay the $55 application fee. Regardless of Georgia Promise Scholarship account status, private schools also reserve the right to choose which students will be admitted. Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@ and JoeInTheKnow_SMN on Instagram or @JoeInTheKnowSMN at This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: To apply or to not apply? Georgia Promise Scholarship pros and cons
