Vouchers program thrills, frustrates parents

By D. AILEEN DODD

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Donna Johnson credits a state voucher program for helping the nephew she is raising to get through high school successfully, even if it was 162 miles from home.

She used the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship to send Torri McClain to Mill Springs Academy in Alpharetta in search of a brighter future. The teen, diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, got individualized instruction in classes with few distractions, help from teachers eager for him to succeed and a spot on the basketball team.

Johnson is among hundreds of parents and guardians taking advantage of the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship, now in its third year of providing vouchers for children whose educational needs are not being fully met at their local public schools.

“It would have been very difficult for him to graduate without the scholarship,” said Johnson of Evans, who worried McClain would drop out if he remained in public school. “He just blossomed at Mill Springs, his grades went from Cs and Ds to As and Bs. He is enjoying college life right now.”

Most voucher users, like Johnson, praise the benefits; but many point out the obstacles. McClain’s grandmother relocated to Georgia so he could be near his new school. The family needed financial aid from Mill Springs to make up most of the tuition the state didn’t cover.

Other parents have had a difficult time working with the public schools to get their children’s educational assessments so they qualify for vouchers. And still others complain that the voucher system still leaves families with limited financial means without school choice.

Vouchers ranged from $2,592 to $13,586 last school year, averaging $6,331. Median tuition in Georgia ranged from about $15,000 for elementary schools to $19,700 for high schools last year.

Voucher payments are made quarterly, but some schools required tuition payments up front, leaving parents to wait for reimbursement.

The more affordable route —  transferring to another public school — is rare. Public schools can refuse transfers if they don’t have space — even if they are building new classrooms — or if they don’t offer the services a certain student needs.

Last school year, 1,596 special-needs students received vouchers to attend private schools, a 77.5 percent increase over the previous year, according to a state-mandated report. No data, however, is publicly collected to show whether those students would have been able to switch public schools or districts.

“I know from speaking with parents that sometimes it’s difficult to get requests granted,” said Carmen Hernandez-Freemire, Georgia Special Needs Scholarship program administrator.

State Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), co-sponsor of Georgia’s voucher law, said he is pleased by the program’s growth but disappointed by some districts’ attitudes. “They don’t allow you to have public school choice.”

Ben Scafidi, director of the Center for an Educated Georgia, which studied the voucher program’s first year, said private schools are more welcoming. “Our sense is that it is negligible at best in terms of the number of students able to exercise that [public school transfer right],” he said.

Most metro Atlanta school systems — Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Fulton and Atlanta — have not accepted transfers from outside their borders. Fulton Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale said her district has a board policy against accepting out-of-district transfers.

That leaves private school as the alternative for most.

According to Scafidi’s study “Education Choice Works,” 79 percent of parents using vouchers were dissatisfied with their special-needs child’s academic progress in public school and 40 percent said the campuses failed to provide the appropriate services.

Carol Cuviello of Roswell said that was the case for sending her 14-year-old daughter, Anna, to The Cottage School, a small private academy in Roswell.

The family invested about $15,000 in two school years to fill the tuition gap. Anna, who has Asperger’s syndrome, qualifies for an $8,300 voucher. The family receives financial aid from the school to help offset rising tuition.

“It’s very expensive for us, but it’s worth every penny,” Cuviello said. “Anna is more confident, more self-controlled.”

Anna plays volleyball and said she feels more at home at the school. Fifty-six of the school’s 140 middle and high school students receive school choice vouchers. About $56,000 was raised at the school to help with the tuition gap.

“The cost of private education is a harsh reality when you are used to attending a school that your taxes pay for,” said Jacque Digieso, executive director of The Cottage School. “I do think that there is a period of sticker shock, but I believe the majority [of] schools ... are very good about working out a payment schedule.”

But money isn’t the only frustration.

Students in Georgia must be in public school for a full year and have an Individualized Education Plan to qualify for vouchers. Getting the required plan in a timely manner can be challenging.

Mary Beth Toole of Atlanta said her second-grader qualified for special services last spring and received the formal educational plan but the state turned down her voucher request. Toole hired a lawyer and enrolled her son in The Howard School hoping a check would come eventually.

“It’s been a nightmare,” she said.

A similar program in Florida, the McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities, avoids some of the problems parents note in the Georgia program.

Florida sends its first checks to parents in September and there is no application deadline. The Florida program has operated for 10 years, though, and Georgia’s is just three years old.

“The program was barely two months old when 900 students got the first scholarships,” said Scafidi, with the group that studied the Georgia program’s first year. “I am confident the state will work the kinks out.”

The Georgia Board of Education is developing a rule to provide clear guidance about how the voucher program should operate. A draft is expected to be discussed at a public meeting later this month or in October.