Viewpoint: What the Florida McKay Program Can Tell Us About Bringing Special Education Vouchers to Ohio
Of all the education issues I've studied, vouchers and special education is one of the most difficult to talk about. While the traditional public school system does a good job with many of its disabled students, everyone seems to agree that there are serious problems with the system. We must confront the fact that significant numbers of disabled students are not being properly served in public schools. School vouchers offer those students a chance to get the education they deserve.
There are two major misconceptions about vouchers and special education. The first misconception is that private schools won't serve disabled students. The second is that disabled students don't need school choice, because the problems with special education in public schools can be solved with higher spending.
The suggestion that private schools won't serve disabled students is not consistent with the evidence.
For six years, Florida has had a school voucher program for special education students, the McKay Scholarship Program. It is currently the largest voucher program in the nation, with about 16,000 participants. In June 2003, Jay Greene and I conducted the only empirical evaluation of that program. We found that private schools were serving disabled students significantly better than their previous public schools:
-Two thirds of participating families reported that their previous public schools did not provide all the services they were required to provide under the federal special education law. By contrast, only 12% reported that their private schools didn't provide services they promised to provide.
-The average class in their private schools was half as large as the average class in their public schools (13 students vs. 25 students).
-Students were victimized by their peers far less often. About half of participants were bothered often by other students in their public schools because of their disabilities, and about a quarter had been physically assaulted in public schools. Only about 5% of students were bothered or assaulted by other students in their private schools.
-Behavior problems among participating students were drastically reduced as well (from 40% having behavior problems to 19%).
-We also found that students were served about the same regardless of race, income, or disability type.
Perhaps the most powerful testimony is what we heard from parents who had left the program. About 10% of parents who were in the program in the previous year were no longer participating. If there were any serious problems with the program, these would be the parents who would have experienced them. But they also reported that their private schools had served them better than their previous traditional public schools. Over 90% of them said the program should continue for others, even though they were no longer using it themselves.
The second misconception is that the problems with special education in public schools can be fixed with more money. Most people don't realize that special education spending per student has been steadily increasing for decades. There is no sign that the system's problems are being alleviated by these increased resources. Fixing the special education system, in Ohio and elsewhere, requires structural changes. Increasing the dollars put into the system without addressing the system's larger problems is not having any significant effect.
Giving parents the right to choose where to send their special needs children provides the kind of structural change that is desperately needed. A voucher enables a parent to find the right services, in the right environment, for their child's unique needs. Vouchers also give parents the ability to hold schools accountable for their performance. If a particular school does not live up to its promises, parents can and will take their children to another school, public or private.
The process of fixing special education in the traditional public schools will take a long time. By then it will be too late for the students who are currently being underserved. They need an alternative now. The evidence shows that school choice through vouchers will help them get the services they need and deserve.
Greg Forster is a senior fellow at the Milton and Rose D Friedman Foundation in Indianapolis, Indiana.
