RICHMOND, Va. — Joining Republican lawmakers and parents, Gov. Glenn Youngkin pushed for passage Thursday of his proposal to create a scholarship program for low income students.
"Now is our time to go to work. This isn't partisan. This is about our kids," Youngkin said. "This is about unleashing opportunity in the Commonwealth of Virginia for students and families that otherwise wouldn't be able to make these decisions."
Under the plan, $50 million would be used to create the Virginia Opportunity Scholarship program.
The legislation says 10,000 low income students could receive $5,000 scholarships and the money could be used for "qualified educational expenses of attending an accredited private school," which bill sponsors say could also mean a public student going to a private one for tutoring.
"Public schools are great for many, many, many, many students, and it is not our intent in any way, shape or form, to disparage the incredible and great work that they do for the majority of our students. But that's not for everyone," Del. Mike Cherry (R-Colonial Heights) said.
The website Private School Review says the average private school tuition in Virginia is over $15,000. Youngkin says the scholarship is meant to serve as an anchor point.
"There's all kinds of other sources as well and all of this can come together to create this opportunity scholarship," Youngkin said.
"I've heard that tone three years in a row now. It didn't happen year one, year two, and this year it's not going to happen either," Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) said.
Leading Democrats who control the General Assembly have already come out against the proposal, saying money should be spent on supporting public schools.
"Voucher systems are effective ways of destroying public education, not supporting and advancing the needs of our students and our families in Virginia," Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond) said.
Republicans say the money for this comes from the general fund and doesn't take directly from school funding, but Democrats say it will in the end.
"We calculate funding for our schools and our school districts based on attendance and when we are seeing an exodus of students into private schools, we know that that is going to affect the funding calculations and the basis of support," Hashmi said.
Of the two bills associated with this program, only the Senate version has been assigned to a committee, but it has not yet had a hearing.
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