Written by EdChoice

At EdChoice, we work each day to make sure all families have access to the K-12 schooling options that work best for their students.

That includes tens of thousands of military families who sacrifice so much to defend our nation from harm.

Whether it’s moving from one duty station to the next or facing months without a deployed parent at home, children in military families face challenges that children in non-military families do not, especially when it comes to schooling.

When we surveyed almost 1,300 military families last year, we found that active-duty military parents are much more likely than non-military parents to have taken out a new loan or moved closer to school to support their child’s education. Military parents also are more likely to say they have paid for tutoring, before/after care services and school transportation.

We believe they shouldn’t have to make those sacrifices, and that’s why we support education savings accounts or ESAs, which allow parents to receive the funding set aside to educate their child in the form of a government-authorized savings account. That funding—often distributed via debit card—can be used to cover private school tuition and fees, online learning programs, private tutoring, community college costs, higher education expenses and other approved customized learning services and materials.

ESAs enjoy strong support among military families because they bring a level of flexibility that’s often not available in the more traditional K-12 model.

Our reasons for sponsoring Operation Alpha extend far beyond our desire to help military families—and all families—access the best educational options for their children.

We’re a national nonprofit, but we’re based in Indianapolis, and we want to take every opportunity to recognize other nonprofits in our community that go the extra mile to help those most in need.

We’re proud to support HVAF’s work serving more than 1,400 local veterans last year, and we want to thank everyone involved in that mission. We wish HVAF every success as the organization continues to expand its efforts.