• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
 Lessons from Florida
School Choice Gives Increased Opportunities toChildren with Special Needs
by David F. Salisbury
 David Salisbury is director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute.
No. 81
In 2000, Florida instituted an innovativeschool choice program for children with dis-abilities. During the 2000–01 school year, theMcKay Scholarship Program for Studentswith Disabilities provided scholarships tomore than 1,000 students who chose toattend private schools rather than remain intheir neighborhood public schools. Currently,more than 8,000 special education students inFlorida attend 464 private schools through-out the state.Critics of school choice often argue thatschool choice benefits only the best andbrightest, leaving behind those children whoare most difficult to educate. They also arguethat vouchers lead to the establishment of “fly-by-night” schools and drain publicschools of revenue. Florida disproves thoseclaims.Private schools have proven their willingnessto accept McKay scholarship students, and thefact that 89 percent of McKay students re-enrolled in their scholarship schools demon-strates that most parents are satisfied with theirchosen private school.Policymakers in other states should look toFlorida’s experience to inform their schoolchoice efforts. In addition, Congress shouldmake school choice an integral component of any new legislation reauthorizing the Individualswith Disabilities in Education Act. IDEAencumbers public schools with complex regu-lations that waste time and resources thatcould be better spent helping disabled chil-dren learn. Eliminating the regulatory burdencreated by IDEA for states that offer schoolchoice to parents would encourage states toimplement innovative reforms.
March 20, 2003
 
Introduction
School choice opponents often argue thatchoice will benefit only the best and brighteststudents, leaving behind those who are themost difficult to educate. Sandra Feldman,president of the American Federation of Teachers, has repeatedly warned that privateschools will turn away handicapped students orstudents they perceive to be difficult to edu-cate.
1
Others similarly predict that privateschools will siphon off only the best and bright-est students while refusing children with per-sonal, behavioral, or educational challenges.
2
The evidence suggests that those critics werewrong in their predictions. Even as the criticsissued their warnings, more than 100,000 chil-dren with disabilities were being served by privateschools, paid for by either public or privatefunds.
3
According to the
 Directory for ExceptionalChildren
, there are more than 2,500 privateschools and clinics throughout the United Statesserving special needs children.
4
Many schoolsspecialize in helping difficult-to-educate childrenand utilize innovative, scientifically based pro-grams that are more effective at helping childrenwith disabilities than are those used in manypublic schools.
5
Florida’s McKay ScholarshipProgram for Students with Disabilities providesadditional evidence that private schools will notonly accept difficult-to-educate children but willgo out of their way to provide effective programsto help children with physical, behavioral, emo-tional, or learning disabilities.
How the McKayScholarship Program Works
Through the McKay ScholarshipProgram, the state of Florida provides achoice of any private or public school to par-ents of children who are identified as dis-abled under a variety of categories, includingthose who are mentally handicapped, speechand language impaired, deaf or hard of hear-ing, visually impaired, dual sensory impaired,physically impaired, emotionally handi-capped, specific learning disabled, hospital-ized or homebound, or autistic.
6
Before theprogram’s enactment, enrollment decisionsfor these children were made primarily byschool officials—not parents. Parents nowhave a much greater role in deciding whichschool, public or private, is best for theirchild. More than 8,000 of Florida’s 380,000eligible students now use McKay scholar-ships to attend private rather than publicschools.Any student with a disability who hasbeen in a Florida public school for at leastone year qualifies for a McKay scholarship.Students must be identified as having a dis-ability and must have an active individual-ized educational plan (IEP) as mandatedunder federal education guidelines. By law,parents must enroll their children in a privateschool first and then apply for the scholar-ship. Parents may apply for a scholarship atany time during the school year, but mustallow at least 60 days for the first scholarshippayment to be made.
7
The state mails thescholarship checks to the parent at the stu-dent’s private school, and the parent thenendorses the payment to the private school.The dollar amount of a McKay scholar-ship depends on the amount of funds beingspent on the student in his or her assignedpublic school or the amount of tuition at theprivate school, whichever is less. If the cost of the private school is greater than the amountof the scholarship, the family must pay thedifference or receive tuition assistance fromthe private school.
8
Families must also pro-vide transportation to the private school. Toprovide educational continuity for the stu-dent, the scholarship remains in force untilthe child returns to a public school or gradu-ates from high school.
Scholarship Recipients
Information compiled by the FloridaDepartment of Education shows that theMcKay Scholarship Program serves a diverse mixof students. Fifty percent of recipients this year
2
More than 8,000of Florida’s380,000 eligiblestudents now useMcKay scholar-ships to attendprivate ratherthan publicschools.
 
were white, 28 percent black, 19 percentHispanic, and 3 percent were identified as mul-tiracial or “other.” Sixty-nine percent of scholar-ship recipients this year were boys and 31 percentgirls. About half of all recipients were in gradesfive through eight, and about half (53.3%) hadbeen categorized as learning disabled by the pub-lic school that they previously attended. The nextlargest categories of disability were speech- andlanguage-impaired children, who togetheraccount for about 16 percent of McKay scholar-ship recipients.
9
These categories are reflective of the general population of students in specialeducation programs in public schools through-out the state.
10
Florida categorizes special education stu-dents using a level-of-services matrix to deter-mine the size of each child’s benefit. Historically,around 85 percent of all Florida special educa-tion students were categorized as level one or twoon the matrix, meaning that those studentsrequire minimal levels of intervention due totheir disability.
11
About 83 percent of McKayscholarship recipients are matrix level one or two,again showing that scholarship students arereflective of the general special education stu-dent population.
12
Tuition rates at private schools vary, but inmany cases the amount provided through theMcKay scholarship is sufficient to cover fulltuition at a participating private school.Because of that, even very low-income familiesare able to benefit from the McKay program.
13
One indication that the MCKay ScholarshipProgram is helping low-income families is that50 percent of students using McKay scholar-ships in 2002–03 fell within federal incomeguidelines for the free or reduced lunch pro-gram in their public schools. This is a higherrepresentation of low-income families than inthe state’s student population generally, where44 percent of students qualify for free orreduced lunch.
14
Participating Private Schools
Private schools in Florida are relativelyfree to operate without excessive governmentinterference. For example, private schools donot have to be licensed or approved by thestate, but they are required to make their exis-tence known to the Department of Education and respond to an annual surveydesigned to make information about themavailable to the public. Approximately onehalf of Florida’s private schools are accredit-ed, either by the Florida Council of Independent Schools or by some otheraccrediting organization.
15
Accreditation,however, is often an expensive and time con-suming process, so some schools choose torely solely on their reputations in the com-munity and record of success as a way toattract patrons.Currently, 547 of Florida’s 1,646 privateschools are registered to participate in theMcKay program. Of those schools, 215 arenon-religious private schools and 332 are reli-gious schools.
16
To be eligible to participate inthe McKay program, private schools must beable to demonstrate financial stability bybeing in operation for one full school year, orby providing a statement from a certified pub-lic accountant confirming that the school isinsured and has sufficient capital or credit tooperate for the upcoming year. Private schoolsmust also notify the Florida Department of Education of their intent to participate in theMcKay program by May 1 of each year.Many participating private schools havespecial programs for children with disabilities.Catholic schools, for example, offer an array of programs for disabled children.
17
Other pri-vate schools find smaller class sizes andincreased individual attention sufficient tohelp McKay scholarship children, particularlythose with mild learning disabilities. Mostchildren in special education have mild ratherthan severe disabilities and do not requirehigh levels of specialized treatment or therapy.Some private schools focus exclusively on chil-dren with particular types of disabilities (seeTable 1). In many cases, specialized schoolsprovide expertise and a level of interventionbeyond what is available in the public schoolsor in nonspecializing private schools.
18
Private schools have opened their doors to
3
Private schoolshave opened theirdoors to McKayscholarship stu-dents, demon-strating theirwillingness tohelp studentswho, in manycases, were notbeing well servedby their publicschools.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...