AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2007 > September > 07
Friday, September 7, 2007
Special-Ed Vouchers: Who Are They Helping?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ve been working on a story this week about the implementation of the state’s new Special Needs Scholarship, the voucher program that allows parents to transfer disabled children from public schools to private programs.
Turns out, many of the families expecting to benefit from the scholarship (the grants haven’t been issued just yet) had enrolled their children in private schools before the program was even finalized.
So they weren’t banking on the scholarship; it was a bonus they received after the fact.
Of course, when private school tuition runs as high as $20,000 and up, most families need help footing the bill. But if scholarship recipients had already resolved to pay on their own, are the taxpayer-funded vouchers going to those who truly need them?
UPDATE: State Department of Education officials have extended the deadline for eligible families to enroll in a participating school this year. Parents now have until Sept. 21 to transfer their children into a private campus in order to use the scholarship.
