Virtual learning has no doubt caused financial hardships for some families. For many, it means updating equipment, buying desks, and taking on a new childcare bill. But help is on the way.
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) is offering scholarships for families who have to send their children to e-school at a childcare center. It’s called the SOLVE Scholarship: Supporting Onsite Learning for Virtual Education. It’s a scholarship for Georgia public school children who are part of a virtual learning model right now.
The purpose of SOLVE is to provide scholarships for families with students enrolled in a Georgia public school, state charter commission school, or locally approved charter school offering primarily virtual learning. Scholarships support working families with children and young adults ages 5-12 (kindergarten through grade 7), or up to age 22 for students with qualifying disabilities, by paying for care, supervision, and support during the school day while students are engaged in virtual learning.
Eligibility for SOLVE:
- A school system is completely virtual for grades K-7th.
- A school system has 50% or less in-person instruction opportunities. For example, a school district that has a choice model (students can choose in-person or virtual) and students are only allowed to attend in-person instruction 2 days out of the week would still be eligible for SOLVE. Because this is less than 50% of in-person instruction, that system is still eligible for SOLVE. If a school system is going in-person 3 days out of the week, they would no longer be eligible for SOLVE.
- A school system is providing in-person learning for only certain, but not all, grades between K-7th. For example, if a school system has gone back hybrid for K-5th grade and their 6th and 7th graders are still virtual. They would still be eligible for SOLVE.
The program is part of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding allocated to Georgia through the CARES Act and is in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. SOLVE is administered by the Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program located within the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL).
