Special Needs Scholarships Passes House Committee
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 By Beth Lear
Senate Bill 57, authorizing a program to provide scholarships for up to 3% of Special Needs students in Ohio, passed the Ohio House of Representatives Education Committee today on a straight partyline vote: 12 to 11.
The bill allows parents of children with IEPs to apply for a scholarship to an alternative public or private provider. Opponents of school choice have consistently argued against it on the basis of cost and accountability. But the facts are that scholarships have proven to be a win-win-win situation in Ohio, Milwaukee, Florida and other states.
The first winners are obviously the child and the parents. Special needs children are bullied six times more than other students, and scholarships have allowed these children to escape the violence and be educated in a more safe and secure environment. Additionally, in Florida, where they have a scholarship program specifically for Special Needs children called the McKay Scholarship, which is similar to Senate Bill 57, the kids with scholarships have improved academically. Over 90% of McKay parents are satisfied with their child’s education, compared with less than a third of public school parents with special needs children.
The taxpayer wins. Scholarships that allow parents to send their kids to private schools or alternative public providers average substantially less than the public schools spend. In Florida, after 6 years of the McKay program, the Friedman Foundation determined taxpayers were saving, on average, 26% over the cost of educating the same child in the public system. The savings were even higher in the five previous years.
The public schools win. They keep their local tax dollars, and have fewer kids to use those dollars. Additionally, in studies of both Florida’s McKay program and the Milwaukee scholarship, public schools stepped up to the challenged and their kids have improved academically in addition to improvements for the scholarship kids. Competition in other states is improving the outcomes for everyone. It could do that in Ohio.
The only reason to say “no” to giving parents choices, is because the adults that run the education monopoly in Ohio believe they know better than parents, and politicians beholden to union money don’t want to lose that support. Policy leaders should consider the facts and what’s best for Ohio’s kids, and stop letting bureaucrats and unions make their decisions for them.
The free market has always produced better results than government control. It’s past time to allow the free market to improve our education system and increase opportunities for Ohio’s children.
May 28th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Does the governor plan on vetoing this bill? thanks
May 28th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
He has threatened a veto, yes. He line-item vetoed it out of the budget sent to him last year by the General Assembly.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Where does the money to pay the private school come from if the tax dollars stay in the public school district?
Thank you
May 29th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Make no mistake, the majority of the money to pay for this bill will come from local property tax dollars. Local levy amounts will be increased over time. When institutions such as the Buckeye Institute start advocating policies that will inevitably lead to large (local) tax increases, you know that fiscal conservatism is truly on life support in this country..
May 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Money for the program comes only from the state dollars, not the local tax dollars. That fact comes from a thorough reading of the legislation, the experts at the Legislative Service Commission and the administrators of current education voucher programs at the Ohio Department of Education. Most of the cost will be covered by the state’s basic aid, which is currently $5,655 per pupil. Since the majority of scholarship recipients, likely around 80%, will fall into the first 2 categories of special needs, the least expensive of the 6 categories of need that Ohio’s defined, the overwhelming majority of dollars will come from the basic aid money. Any additional funds used will come from the state’s special needs payments to the school. A child who leaves a school district will still be counted in their ADM, thus leaving behind local monies that would have gone to educate them and instead will be shared by remaining students. Only 3% of Ohio’s special needs children will be allowed access to the scholarships, and it is widely expected that the majority of those will come from urban districts that are already performing poorly.
Additionally, well-respected researchers have found that, contrary to school districts with voucher programs “losing” money to private schools, districts in Milwaukee, Florida and Ohio, as well as the other states who have various forms of school choice, have continued to see larger-than-inflationary increases in their budgets.
May 29th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Beth: Thanks for the clarification. Do you have any links to the Legislative Service Commission, or any other site that comes to those conclusions? Thank you.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
aneinu: The budget bill, House Bill 119, had the same program and it’s simplified explanation is on page 169 and 170 of the following site: http://www.lbo.state.oh.us/fiscal/budget/CompareDoc127/CompareDoc-HB119-EN.pdf
Also, I encourage you to go to: http://www.lbo.state.oh.us/fiscal/fiscalnotes/127ga/SB0057HR.htm
to review the fiscal note for Senate Bill 57. Both documents can be confusing, so if you need more information or a further explanation, contact the Ohio Department of Education’s Center for School Finance and Options. Or let me know if you have any questions about what you find.