Special Ed. and Choice Ties Grow

Creating private school vouchers for special education students--programs that are largely unchallenged in court, unlike other publicly financed tuition vouchers--can be the perfect way to clear a path for other students to get school options, according to school choice proponents. At least seven states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah--have voucher programs for students with disabilities, and some of those have multiple programs. At least another 10 state legislatures are considering new voucher offerings targeted at special education this legislative session. Voucher programs for special education students are very different from state to state. Some states require students to have attended public school for at least a year or more before turning to vouchers to avoid subsidizing private school for families who already can afford it, but others don't. In some programs, students using vouchers must take state assessments. In other states, students don't have to use the voucher for private school tuition at all and can instead put the money toward services such as speech and occupational therapy or applied behavior analysis, a therapy specifically for autism.