Vouchers Eyed For Students with Disabilities

By Christina A. Samuels

More than half a dozen states are considering legislation to offer
private school vouchers for students with disabilities.

They are looking to join the ranks of four othersArizona,
Florida, Ohio, and Utahthat already offer that school choice
option.

Supporters say that such vouchers are an important safety valve
for parents when public schools don't offer programs to meet those
students' specialized needs.

But opponents warn that parents who take advantage of those
vouchers may be giving up procedural protections guaranteed to
their children under the federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act.

They also argue that vouchers for students with disabilities lay
the groundwork for universal voucher programs that would drain
money from public educationand point to Utah's experience as an
example.

In that state, the 2-year-old Carson Smith Special Needs
Scholarship entitles students with disabilities to receive up to
$6,042 a year for private school tuition. Utah's governor on Feb.
12 signed into law a measure making vouchers available to all
students in the state, though the program is expected to face
legal challenges. ("Utah's Broad Voucher Program Could Face
Challenge," Feb. 21, 2007
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/02/21/24utah.h26.html.)

"The Utah program is enormously significant," said Marc Egan, the
director of federal affairs for the National School Boards
Association, in Alexandria, Va. "It unmasked the whole push for
vouchers. The end goal has always been full-scale private school
vouchers for all kids."

Jeanne Allen, the president of the Center for Education Reform, a
Washington group that advocates charter schools and other forms of
school choice, rejects that claim. The supporters of vouchers are
just as diverse in their goals as the supporters of traditional
education, she maintained.

"I don't think that most people see this as a camel's nose into
the tent," Ms. Allen said.

Varied Proposals

Legislation to offer vouchers for students with disabilities is
currently on the table in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas.

"It's another opportunity for parents to take control of their
child's education," said Assemblywoman Valerie E. Weber, the
Republican who introduced the measure.

Some states are further along in the process. In Georgia, the
Special Needs Scholarship Act passed the Senate in January and is
under consideration by the House. Senate President Pro Tem Eric
Johnson, one of the sponsors, predicts a close vote for the
program, which would offer students a scholarship equal to the
cost of the educational program the student would have received in
public school.

"There's all these problems, all these myths about vouchers," said
Mr. Johnson, a Republican. But he said that lawmakers seem to
recognize that students with disabilities "may seriously have
unique needs that the regular schools can't meet."

Florida set the precedent for such vouchers with the Florida McKay
Scholarship. The 7-year-old program provided an average
scholarship amount in 2005-06 of $7,000 that parents of students
with disabilities could use to pay tuition at a private school of
their choice. About 17,300 students participated in the program
during that academic year.

"It's definitely a growing movement. Florida paved the way for us
to look at choice in a variety of different ways," said the Center
for Education Reform's Ms. Allen. These programs "have become more
popular and increasingly accepted by more diverse constituencies,"
she said.

Matt Warner, the education task force director for the American
Legislative Exchange Council, a Washington-based association for
conservative state lawmakers, said his group provides model
legislation on special-needs vouchers.

"As states have experience with these voucher programs, they'll
see that they're not a bogeyman at all," Mr. Warner said. "In
fact, these are the great equalizers."

Mr. Egan, however, views such programs as a way of smoothing the
path for the acceptance of universal vouchers, which his group,
the NSBA, opposes.

"To us, it's more of a political strategy on the part of the
voucher supporters to go for these more targeted programs," he
said.

Safeguards at Risk

Martin Gould, a senior research specialist at the National Council
on Disability, in Washington, points out that those who use
vouchers to attend private schools may be giving up IDEA
protections. The council is an independent federal agency that
makes recommendations to the president and Congress on issues
affecting Americans with disabilities.

The IDEA requires all public school systems to provide a free,
appropriate public education for students with disabilities.
Parents who believe their children are not getting an appropriate
education have the right to a due-process hearing, and can carry a
complaint against the school all the way to federal court.

Children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in
private school are still entitled to certain protections, such as
those outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act. However,
they generally do not receive the more specific protections for
students that are outlined under the IDEA.

"Regardless of whether parents are frustrated, this is a pretty
clean break with all of their rights," Mr. Gould said. When
parents accept a voucher, he said, "it's a leap of faith to move
to private schools that possibly may not be justified."

And even in states that offer such voucher programs, public
schools may offer attractive options for parents of children with
disabilities. Ohio's 2-year-old scholarship program for students
with autism provides up to $20,000 for educational expenses, but
Jennifer Brown, an outreach coordinator based at Cincinnati
Children's Hospital and Medical Center, often tells parents to
start with their local school district.

Although Ohio has 148 providers authorized to instruct children
with autism, they may not be conveniently located for families,
she said.

Also, many school districts "do have some really good people
involved in those programs," said Ms. Brown, who also serves on
the board of the Autism Society of Greater Cincinnati.

"Most often, my advice is that their local school district is
their best resource," she said. "Public schools have been doing
this for a long time."

Source: Education Week
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