Jim Wooten writes piece in support of vouchers for students with disabilities

This opinion piece alludes to a number of the important questions this bill forces.
Will this approach:

• deplete resources from public education?
• only be a win for public schools, who no longer have to "deal" with students with disabilities?
• offer real opportunities for meaningful inclusion in private schools, or will private schools be unequipped or unwilling to offer the supports needed for inclusion of students with disabilities? Will enough money be transferred with the child so that real inclusion can be supported
• encourage funding to move from public schools where protections under IDEA applies to segregated school settings where there are less protections for students and their parents? (see: And the program “shall not be construed to expand the regulatory authority of the state, its officers, or any public school system to impose any additional regulation of nonpublic schools beyond those reasonably necessary to enforcement of the requirements of this article.”)

This bill is a great opportunity to educate legislators on what you expect for your children in school and why it is so important to prepare them for employment and a meaningful, autonomous adult life...

By Jim Wooten Saturday, December 16, 2006, 07:02 PM
Click here for the full article in the AJC

The most important education reform bill proposed here in decades, one that would give scholarships to special-needs children, has been introduced by state Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah, the Senate’s President Pro Tem — a position second in power to the lieutenant governor.

Watch for the defenders of the status quo, the more-money it’s-not-our-fault crowd that resists anything that doesn’t boil down to more revenues and less accountability, to rise up in an effort to smite down this reform-minded heretic and his mold-shattering legislation.

Truth is, in the world of education reform, Johnson’s Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act is not revolutionary. It is, in fact, downright mainstream. Florida does it, and has for six years. The number of students with disabilities whose parents opt for the scholarship that allows them to buy education services from any private school has grown from 970 to 17,300...

...As it exists in Florida, the John M. McKay scholarship program offers parents of children with a disability who are enrolled in public schools the opportunity to transfer to another public school, or to get scholarship aid to enroll in a private school. The scholarships range from $4,800 to $20,700. Parents love it.

Qualifying students in Georgia, according to the legislation, are those who suffer one or more defined disabilities, who spent the prior year in one of the state’s public schools, and who are required by state and federal law to have had an Individualized Education Program (IEP) written for them. That’s 186,272 students.

As proposed by Johnson, the maximum scholarship would be a sum equal to the state and federal money spent on them in public school. That sum — and not any locally generated revenues — would be granted to parents to buy from the private sector the education services they wanted for their child. The sum could be less, since parents could get no more than an eligible school’s tuition and fees.

Johnson has built in some important principles. The money goes to parents, not private schools. Parents designate where they want the money sent. Another important consideration is that no private school is required to admit anybody. And the program “shall not be construed to expand the regulatory authority of the state, its officers, or any public school system to impose any additional regulation of nonpublic schools beyond those reasonably necessary to enforcement of the requirements of this article.”

The early indication is that opposition will come from the education workplace unions and from the organizations that represent superintendents and school boards, as well as traditional voucher opponents, Johnson said last week. Supporters will be free-market conservatives and parents of special-needs children, who in Florida have overwhelmingly expressed their satisfaction with the McKay scholarships.

Some school officials are likely to object because most of the money being spent on a special-needs child will move with him to the private school. The local system should come out ahead, however, because it’s being freed of the obligation to serve a child with special needs, and class sizes should drop as a result. The systems keep their local money, plus the funds that would be spent to transport the children with disabilities...

...Some groups, like the education workplace unions, are just flat-out opposed to anything that smacks of vouchers. But “the dirty little secret is that we already have vouchers,” said Johnson. The HOPE scholarship is a voucher program. So too is the pre-k program, which sends public money to private pre-kindergarten programs.

Johnson said his bill “does not attempt to blame teachers, administrators or parents. It simply says that parents of special-needs children can choose the school that their children will attend. If they believe their needs are being fulfilled in public school, they are free to stay.” But if not they would have the option to go. Who could possibly object to giving parents that choice?