My local networks are all abuzz with speculation about the bill coming before the Georgia legislature in just a few short days. SB 10 would provide scholarships, funded by the state, for children with disabilities to transfer to another public or a private school if their needs aren’t being met at their current school.

There are lots of reasons to be skeptical…and believe me, I am skeptical when it comes to anything the school districts are doing, or the state DOE at this point, as well.

But, Georgia’s not alone in our thinking. Six other states are currently considering allowing parents of children with disabilities to take funding and choose a different school: Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky, Virginia, and Hawaii (which is already implementing theirs.) Maybe you know of others – it seems to be a popular consideration these days.

Florida’s McKay Scholarship has been in place since 1999. Utah also has a special education voucher program. Florida’s program is the larger of the two and has been studied by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. They found:

• 92.7% of current McKay participants are satisfied or very satisfied with their McKay schools; only 32.7% were similarly satisfied with their public schools;
• Those participants also saw class size drop dramatically, from an average of 25.1 students per class in public schools to 12.8 students per class in McKay schools;
• Participating students were victimized far less by other students because of their disabilities in McKay schools. In public schools, 46.8% were bothered often and 24.7% were physically assaulted, while in McKay schools 5.3% were bothered often and 6.0% were assaulted;
• McKay schools also outperformed public schools on our measurement of accountability for services provided. Only 30.2% of current participants say they received all services required under federal law from their public school, while 86.0% report their McKay school has provided all the services they promised to provide;
• Behavior problems have also dropped in McKay schools. 40.3% of current participants said their special education children exhibited behavior problems in the public school, but only 18.8% report such behavior in McKay schools;
• Former McKay participants provide similar responses. 62.3% were satisfied with their McKay school, while only 45.2% were satisfied with their old public school. Their class sizes also dropped from an average of 21.8 students to 12.7 students. Former participants also reported that their McKay schools performed better than their public schools on almost every other measure;
• This superior performance by McKay schools was largely provided for the same or only slightly more money per pupil than is spent in public schools. Even though the McKay program allows participants to choose schools that charge tuition above the amount of the voucher, 71.7% of current participants and 75.8% of former participants report paying either nothing at all or less than $1,000 per year above the voucher;
• Perhaps the strongest evidence regarding the McKay program’s performance is that over 90% of parents who have left the program believe it should continue to be available to those who wish to use it.

One of the major differences between Georgia’s SB 10 and the McKay program is that Georgia’s bill the language specifically says: “Acceptance of a scholarship shall have the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.” In other words, the child’s rights under IDEA are waived.

But, the more I read, the more confused I become. I do think there are those children who would benefit from the program – other families like us, whose children have needs that aren’t being met by the public school. But I suspect that number is only a fraction of the whole special needs population. Around 10% if other states’ scholarship programs are our model.

So, I’ll keep reading and thinking…What about your state? Is your legislature considering such a move? Would it benefit your family or not?

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