Rep. Banks Introduces Bill to Provide Military Families With Educational Options

Press Release

oday, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee and House Education and Labor Committee member Jim Banks introduced the Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act.

Polls show that for up to 35% of servicemembers, dissatisfaction with their children's education is a "significant factor" in deciding whether to continue their military service.

"Around a third of military families are upset enough by their lack of educational options to consider quitting. This is a serious national-security issue and we should treat it like one," said Banks. "It's also a moral issue. Servicemembers sacrifice so much for this country--which is why we owe them gratitude and respect. But more than that, we owe it to them to alleviate the effects of those sacrifices on their children."

BACKGROUND

Rep. Banks introduced a versions of the bill in 2018 and 2019, the more recent of which garnered 93 cosponsors.

The bill instructs the Secretary of Education to establish an education savings account (ESA) on behalf of a military family (if the family chooses) to pay for applicable education expenses. The account could pay for any number of education-related products and services such as: private school tuition, private online learning programs, individual classes and extracurriculars at public schools, textbooks, curricula and other instructional materials and contributions to a college savings account.

Source