Special Needs Scholarship Program

In May of 2007, landmark Georgia Legislation (SB 10) was passed and signed into a law. This ruling allows parents of special education students to receive state funds for private school tuition, which gives these families a wider range of school choice.

It is so thrilling that Georgia Legislature stepped out and enacted this program. We are only the second state in the United States to create a program like this. Florida, the only other state that has a comparable law, has provided a voucher program for special education students for 7 years. Consequently, the Georgia State Department of Education has used the Florida model for guidance in structuring the implementation of SB 10.

The most exciting part of this new program is that parents of special education students have more choices of different educational environments for their children.

In recent years, public special education resource room classes have increased in size to accommodate the number of students who qualify for services. Also, special education students have been in collaborative classes, which are co-taught by both regular and special education teachers. Like the resource room classes, the number of special education students in these co-taught classrooms has also grown.

As these numbers grow in both types of classrooms, it becomes more difficult to provide individualized instruction for these very diverse learners. So, when parents can find private school placements with lower teacher-pupil ratios, this becomes another option.

The downside of the SB 10 bill is that the state money might not cover the full private school tuition. Another issue is that children who are home schooled are excluded from this program as well as private school students. The most important aspect is that it is a beginning, not an end, and Georgia is doing something unique!

The funding the state provides for these students through SB 10 is the amount of money the state gives local school systems for that particular student for special education services. The local school system still receives funding from the federal government and the local tax base for its special education budget.

A parent recently told me how grateful she was for this opportunity for her child to get the time and assistance she needed that would prepare her for the future. . . “My daughter was scared at first to go to this new private school because she did not know if she was going to fit in and not be treated differently . . . and now she is so excited every day that she dresses up in her Sunday best to come to school. She feels so good to be able to fit in with the others and be able to communicate. It is a new beginning for her and a lot of other children in Georgia.”

I will close with another story a parent shared with me, “. . . My child has read his first full book for the first time in his life. Now instead of video games on the computer he is choosing to use free time to read. . . ” This student had been enrolled for only 6 weeks in Ava White Academy using SB 10 funding.

That says it all.

Facts

Law enacted May 10, 2007
900 students left public schools for private school in September 2007
More than 5,700 families applied
Voucher worth $2,000 to $15,000 annually depending on child’s disability
Program modeled after Florida McKay Scholarship Program. This program survived a legal assault when the Florida Supreme Court struck down another voucher program and left the special needs plan intact.

What

Does your child have special education needs? Do you feel like the child’s educational needs are not being met? Child has been in Public School last year for October & March student count? You have an option!

Major Requirement of Law

Students must be Georgia Residents
Student must have attended a Georgia public school during the previous year
Student must have had an active IEP (Individualized Education Program) during the previous year and been served in either Resource, Self-Contained or Collaborative (Inclusion) special education classes

Examples of Disabilities

Learning & intellectual disability, special needs students, attention deficit disorder students, health impairment, specific learning disabilities, speech-language impairment and traumatic brain injury.

Sign-up

Go to the Georgia Department of Education web site.

Click on the box in the bottom right, “Georgia special needs scholarship.”
Opens May 1 . . . closes 1st of September

Law Passed

State funding became available for children to go to an accredited private school specializing in Special Education needs. (SB 10) Tuition Vouchers.