SAN ANTONIO – School may be starting now, but many parents are already trying to figure out what to do next year.
The growing number of schooling options for local students can be overwhelming for parents, especially after private school vouchers became law in Texas in May. Plus, many private and charter schools require early applications.
“It is so overwhelming, because there’s so many schools out there,” mom Jill Rodriguez said. “I found charter schools to be more helpful for my own children only for the fact that they both have ADHD, so they’re in our special population.”
Rodriguez was stressed trying to find schools for her two sons, so she turned to an organization formerly known as San Antonio Charter Moms.
“It started as me as a mom trying to problem-solve for my own kids,” Founder and Executive Director Inga Cotton said.
However, as the education landscape grew, so did Cotton’s operation. She became an expert on all types of schools, and recently changed the organization name to School Discovery Network.
“We continue to offer things like our website that has the school map, and our big Facebook group with 15,000 members, and we have our school discovery day events at fun places like the zoo,” Cotton said.
Rodriguez took advantage of all of those things, which helped her find the perfect schools for her kids, who are now thriving at Frank Madla and Emelda Davis early college schools.
“It’s benefitted not only my family, but other families that I’ve known of,” Rodriguez said. “It’s so important to get help, because no child is alike.”
School Discovery Network is now offering a free one-on-one consulting option for that reason, allowing parents undivided attention to learn about their many options.
“Neighborhood public schools, charter schools, magnets, private schools — then we got to the point where education savings accounts are coming to Texas,” Cotton said.
Cotton has heard a lot of confusion about education savings accounts, also known as private school vouchers, which she has put in a lot of research.
“I’ve been actually following this issue since the 1980s, since I was a teenager, and then in this last legislative session in the spring, the bill became a law,” she said.
The controversial law will now allow $1 billion of state money to help families pay for private school.
“Families will be able to apply for ESAs, and then by a year from now, students should be going to private schools, using money paid for by the state,” Cotton said.
Cotton has brushed up on how the private school vouchers will work and who gets priority.
“Siblings get it together and then the highest priority group is families with low to middle income and a child who has diagnosed with a disability,” she said. “So if you think your child might have a disability, go ahead and request that evaluation now, because there is sometimes a lag period to get the evaluation done, and it could increase chances of getting the ESA.”
The big question to her is how that application process will go. The state has not released that information yet.
“We don’t know the timeline yet on the official state process,” Cotton said. “We’re waiting on more information from the Texas Comptroller’s office. There’s going to be like an online portal that families will apply through, but we don’t know who the provider is. We don’t know what the deadlines are.”
She and her new one-on-one consultants are keeping an eye on that so they can educate families once there is movement.
“Having that one-on-one makes it more personable, and then they know what you’re looking for and they can give you options, and I love the fact that they don’t push a certain school,” Rodriguez said.
The School Discovery Network’s consultations are offered virtually, in person and in Spanish.
Appointments are typically virtual, but anyone with an issue accessing technology can call to make an in-person appointment. Families can sign up on the School Discovery Network website.
The organization is also holding its next education savings account town hall on Aug. 21 to offer information about school vouchers.
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