As part of tax planning for my clients, I like to stay on top of any new developments. One such development for parents in Virginia is the new Virginia K-12 Learning Acceleration Grant Program.
Virginia has made $30 million available to help parents pay for qualified educational services. These include tutoring, technology to help students with extra learning needs, and therapy services. Here is a quick summary of the program:
Two grant sizes
- $1,500 for each qualifying student or
- $3,000 for each qualifying student with a family income below 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
Qualified students include school-aged children who live in Virginia. You can find the specific definition of “school-aged” here. Public, private, or homeschooled students are all eligible.
Income Verification
To qualify for the higher grant amount, family income must fall below the relevant thresholds:
Online application
Parents must submit an online application through the FACTS system to access the grants. The only documentation required is proof of residency (utility bill, driver’s license, etc) and a tax return (if seeking income verification).
Choosing a provider
Upon acceptance of an application, the parent must then log in to a separate system called ClassWallet to select a tutor from verified list (see screenshot shown below):
If your student’s tutor isn’t yet on the list, ask them to get verified, and then you can pay them through ClassWallet (see PAY VENDOR button below):
Expiration dates
To ensure the grant funds are used quickly, the program requires parents to spend the grant money by certain deadlines:
Restrictions
There are a couple notable restrictions on the program:
- You cannot provide tutoring services to your own child
- You cannot use the funds to pay for private school tuition
Overall, if you are a parent of a K-12 student in Virginia, this is a program worth checking out.
