Special Needs Education

Pandemic forces closure of Florida private school for students with autism

Ron Matus June 10, 2020

The Paragon School in Orlando focused on developing individualized academic plans for its students, establishing social skills, and building self-confidence.

Correction: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the number of Gardiner Scholarship students who attended the school in the 2019-20 school year. The number used in the original post, 106, was the sum total of annual scholarships used at the school.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the closure of another private school, a highly regarded Central Florida school that served students on the autism spectrum.

The Paragon School in Orlando announced its shutdown Tuesday, becoming the second school in Florida to fold in the wake of Covid-19 and one of more than 50 across the country.

“We are a school community that has been uniquely impacted by the pandemic, which has had a major effect on our enrollment and fundraising capabilities,” said the notice posted on the school’s web site. “We are now faced with the reality of being unable to create a workable budget with adequate staffing that will allow us to operate for the full 2020-2021 school year.”

“This was not a course of action that we came to lightly,” the statement continued. “We are aware of the important role that Paragon has played in the lives of our students and parents and we remain committed to helping support everyone in their search for the best educational setting for their child.”

The closing underscores the plight of private schools nationwide as enrollment drops, philanthropy dries up and uncertainty clouds what “school” will be in the fall. The recession is stripping away private school parents who can no longer afford tuition and/or no longer feel they’re getting the same sense of identity and community at schools that are now mostly or entirely online.

It’s unclear how many private schools may be vulnerable to closure, but thousands disappeared during the Great Recession. Last month, the National Catholic Education Association predicted more than 100 Catholic schools would shut down in coming months. In Florida, 58 percent of private schools responding to a survey from Step Up For Students said they worried about their viability in the fall. (Step Up is the nonprofit scholarship funding organization that hosts this blog.)

The Paragon School served students in K-12, including 20 last year who used Gardiner Scholarships for students with special needs. (The program is administered by Step Up.) It was founded by a couple who could not find a public or private school that they felt could serve their son with both strong academics and strong programs in behavior intervention and social development.

News of Paragon’s closing brought a flood of emotional comments to its Facebook page.

“We are extremely saddened by this news,” one parent wrote. “As parents we were hit with that awful fear of the ‘unknown’ all while losing a part of the family. Paragon is our family.”

“For years Paragon has been a beacon of hope for families. A North Star guiding us to a place of comfort and peace,” wrote another. “As a Christian it is my belief that we will all reap what we sow in this life. How mighty will be the bounty for every single person involved in the incredible miracle that has been Paragon.”

So far, no meaningful government relief has been targeted to private schools beyond the forgivable, short-term PPP loans that were made available to small businesses and nonprofits. A coalition of private school and school choice organizations made a pitch last month for several potential remedies, including emergency tuition tax credits.

With another relief package potentially coming in July, stay tuned.

June 10, 2020 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Education Choice Education Equity Featured News Private School Scholarships Private Schools School Choice Special Needs Education Virtual Education

Clearwater private school helps hearing-impaired students blossom at home

Lisa Buie June 3, 2020

Lisa Buie

Six-year-old Loryann Millar, pictured with her mother, Lourdes, attends Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf in Clearwater, Florida. Loryann was recognized for successfully completing the school year.

In the world of Montessori education, students learn by using all their senses – sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. So how did a Montessori school adapt when forced to close its brick-and-mortar campus and transition to online learning?

More specifically, how did a Montessori school that primarily serves students who are deaf or hard of hearing adapt to this new normal?

At Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf, one of only two schools in the country that use Montessori methods to teach deaf and hard-of-hearing children using both English and American Sign Language, executive director Julie Rutenberg knew innovation would be key.

“You’re taking a hands-on curriculum and putting it on a computer,” said Rutenberg, who opened the school in 2003 with eight students. “Our teachers adapted and put their day online.”

The challenges were multiplied because Blossom, which strives to keep a ratio of one teacher to five students, also enrolls the brothers and sisters of deaf children as well as children with deaf parents. Additionally, it’s opened its doors to a limited number of hearing children whose parents want them to learn in a unique environment.

That takes quite a bit of innovation absent a worldwide pandemic.

It helped that all 24 of the school’s pre-K through upper elementary families already had computer access thanks to an anonymous donor who gave the school 21 Google Chromebooks. The technology allowed the students, 90 percent of whom receive state scholarships, including the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students and the Gardiner Scholarship for students with unique abilities, to begin their day virtually face to face with their teachers in videoconferences.

Keeping the videoconference groups small so that all students could have an unrestricted view of their teacher took a lot of planning, Rutenberg said. It was crucial though, because they had become accustomed to nine 70-inch interactive boards, a 2016 gift from Sharp Business Systems Florida, that enabled them to see clearly and interact with different media.

Beyond participating in videoconferencing, the students worked independently from the end of March until the school year ended with Montessori materials that administrators made available to parents when the campus shut down. Their teachers, all of whom have an extensive background in both deaf education and deaf culture, worked hard to create both small group and one-on-one lessons.

The school also sent craft kits home for the younger children and laminated paper versions of the learning games used in the classroom so students could continue to play them at home. Art projects were shared through screen shots.

Meanwhile, pre-K teachers recorded themselves reading books that were delivered virtually with captions. Older students participated in weekly show-and-tell sessions, sharing favorite items with their classmates.

Blossom parent Lourdes Millar said everyone made the best of a challenging situation. Millar and her husband are both deaf. Their daughter, Loryann, is deaf in one ear.

“A 6-year-old using a laptop is hard,” she said. “I had to keep helping my daughter in how to communicate with (her) teacher.”

Millar said she learned along with Loryann, a vivacious curly-haired girl who loves the Disney princess Rapunzel. And, Millar said, she realized a renewed appreciation for teachers.

She plans to keep Loryann on track over the summer by participating in a countrywide library-based literacy program for the deaf and hard of hearing at the Deaf Literacy Center. Another option may be a year-round enrichment program offered by the Family Center on Deafness. Blossom partners with both.

I want to keep her mind active,” Millar said. “I don’t want her to forget.”

One event Blossom students aren’t likely to forget was the opportunity to come back to campus May 21, one at a time, to receive recognition for successfully completing the school year. The annual “stepping up” ceremony marks their progress from one grade to the next.

Despite the success of Blossom’s online learning efforts, Rutenberg said she hopes to re-open the campus in August. Enrollment is holding steady and families are eager to return to normal.

But if COVID-19 peaks again in the fall, Rutenberg said, she and her team will be ready.

June 3, 2020 0 comment

Commentary and Opinion Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Equity Featured Parent Empowerment Parent Voices School Choice Special Needs Education

Can I be a pioneer?

Special to redefinED May 26, 2020

Special to redefinED

Karla Phillips, a long-time advocate for both school choice and inclusion, realizes she may need to change her personal and policy focus as she begins researching the best middle school for her daughter, Vanessa.

Editor’s note: Today’s post was written expressly for redefinED by education policy veteran and choice advocate Karla Phillips of Phoenix.

I love seeing new posts on the National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion Facebook page. It’s so encouraging to see the increasing number of schools welcoming students of all abilities.

But when I find myself daydreaming about my daughter perhaps becoming the first girl with Down syndrome to attend an elite school in our area, like Phoenix Christian or Xavier Prep, I have to stop and wonder—am I ready to be a pioneer?

Parents of students with disabilities take incredible leaps of faith when they enroll their children as the “first” in a school. Some make the choice because they are pursuing a faith-based education. Others may be driven to the decision because nothing else has worked for their child.

Regardless of the reason, these parents and their children are forgoing more traditional territory – district schools with formal programs, therapies, etc. – to become pioneers of inclusion and school choice. And that’s not an easy decision.

I have spent a fair share of my career fighting for school choice and supporting the efforts of state leaders to create as many opportunities as possible for students, especially those with disabilities. But now I am the parent and my daughter is the student. And we are faced with the decision of where to enroll for middle school.

When I was looking for my daughter’s first school six years ago, prospects were grim. More often than not, I was “counseled out” of the schools we were considering. We eventually found a wonderful school, but it wasn’t an easy task.

This time around, I’ve noticed a change.

More schools are willing to discuss the possibility of Vanessa enrolling. And while they would enjoy having Vanessa as a student, they’re not sure they’re prepared. A common refrain has been, “We have never had a child with Down syndrome.”

I often joke: “Neither have I.”

Despite their kindness, a message rings loud and clear: Many schools feel neither prepared nor equipped to welcome students with disabilities.

A new report from the Center for Reinventing Public Education examined how parents of children with disabilities choose their school. These parents reported similar experiences to mine. One parent explained that, “the lack of expertise is an urgent barrier for successful inclusion.”

In fact, CRPE’s new research uncovered a surprising truth:

“Having more choices without quality special education programming feels worse to families with children with disabilities than no choice at all, even if having more options makes the community as a whole better off.”

We’re told we have choices, but we feel like we don’t because schools aren’t ready to serve our kids. This isn’t what we have fought for.

I have spoken with some of the pioneers – parents of students with disabilities who have taken the leap into school choice – and their stories are often the same. The parents are either directly or indirectly finding the needed resources or services for their children.

The researchers at CRPE also found that “some parents had used their insurance or out-of-pocket funding to support their child, a potential barrier to educational access for some families.”

I have proudly pronounced myself an advocate for both school choice and inclusion, but I am realizing that I might need to change my personal and policy focus.

States are increasingly offering parents more school choice options. But for these choices to be truly viable options for all students, we need to identify ways to empower and equip schools and educators who will both welcome our children and help them reach their full potential.

Karla Phillips is senior director of policy for KnowledgeWorks, and with more than 20 years’ experience, she is a seasoned veteran of education policy. As the mother of a daughter with Down syndrome, her passionate advocacy for all students has carried over into special education and disability policy. She is a graduate of Indiana University and received a master’s degree in public administration from Arizona State University. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and children.

May 26, 2020 2 comments

Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Education Equity Featured Gardiner Scholarship News School Choice Special Needs Education Virtual Education

Students with special needs miss traditions but not therapies at Florida Catholic schools

Lisa Buie May 22, 2020

Lisa Buie

Students at Morning Star Catholic School in Jacksonville pose with their therapy dog, Nova, prior to the coronavirus shutdown.

As COVID-19 sent brick-and-mortar education into a tailspin this spring, students at one North Florida school realized what they missed most was a creature with four legs and a wet nose.

That’s why staff at Morning Star Catholic School in Jacksonville featured Nova, a golden retriever who likes to lean into humans’ legs while being petted, in a video created to help families feel connected during distance learning.

Trained by Project Chance to help students on the autism spectrum, Nova and another service dog, Corbin, have coaxed anxious students out of cars, lunched with students who met behavior goals and served as an audience to beginning readers to build their confidence.

Graduating seniors had a chance to hug Nova goodbye when they came to the school one at a time for cap and gown photos.

“They miss her terribly, and she misses them terribly, too,” said principal Jean Barnes.

The school, one of six Morning Star Catholic schools in Florida that specialize in teaching students with special needs, serves 138 children with learning differences, including 20 who receive Gardiner Scholarships for students with unique abilities. (Gardiner Scholarships are administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)

Despite missing out on the usual end-of-year activities, students at other Catholic schools that serve children with learning differences haven’t been deprived of therapies and services traditionally provided.

Fourteen-year-old Hannah Halperin, in her third year at St. Mary Academy in Sarasota, is continuing to receive weekly speech therapy as well as occupational therapy remotely.

“I’m getting to hear her speech therapy, and I can tell it’s very good,” said her father, Gary Halperin.

Occupational therapy has proved a bit more challenging because it relies on hands-on activities. Still, Hannah, who has Down syndrome, was able to take therapy supplies home before the campus shut down in March. Therapists are encouraging her to squeeze a tennis ball and do floor exercises to maintain muscle tone. She also works on fine motor skills by writing and picking up toothpicks, and she attends group therapy sessions via Google Meet.

“They use computers at school, so that made the transition easier,” Halperin said.

St. Mary serves 74 students in grades K-8, nearly a third of whom receive a state scholarship. According to the school website, it’s the only Catholic school providing services for students with special needs in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry and Highlands counties. Its slogan is “Where Dreams Are Free.”

In addition to live Zoom classes, teachers are holding “office hours” for student questions, scheduling small group sessions for interventions and conducting assessments.

“Our school counselor meets with me once a week to discuss students’ needs (and) both my counselor and I attend meetings with teachers once a week to identify students at risk,” principal Rebecca Reynolds said. “A plan is then made for follow-up interventions and care.”

At Morning Star Catholic School in Orlando, specialists have created service plans for each student based on their individual education plans, which are required by law for qualified students. The plans also are based on current assessments, teacher observations and therapists’ recommendations.

“All the teachers have been using these to help individualize instruction for their students and allow any accommodations or flexibility needed to reach their goals and the mastery of the skills being taught,” said principal Alicia Abbey.

Of the school’s 66 students in grades K-12, 20 percent receive Gardiner Scholarships.

Other ways students are being accommodated include allowing extended time to complete assignments, holding small group instruction via Zoom videoconferencing for reading and math, and one-on-one instruction, with parents present for safety protocol.

Additionally, a guidance counselor has reached out to families to let them know they’re available if needed, and the school’s transition program for students moving from high school to life after school has remained in place.

Abbey said the school has continued to provide speech, language and music therapy as well as occupational and physical therapy through a virtual program.

“Some students have even been able to continue to see their behavior therapist at home,” she said. “It depends on both the comfort level of the therapist and family, as well as their availability.”

May 22, 2020 0 comment

Blog Guest Commentary and Opinion Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Education and Public Policy Education Savings Accounts Featured Jonathan Butcher School Choice Special Needs Education Virtual Education

COVID-19 has accentuated value of education savings accounts

Jonathan Butcher May 12, 2020

Jonathan Butcher

Children who make use of education savings accounts, like JoEllen Talley of Mississippi, are one step ahead of many families who are struggling to find resources for their children with special needs.

As of today, school buildings likely will be closed for the rest of the academic year in all states except Montana and Wyoming. Ready or not, if you are a parent or guardian, you may be spending the next few weeks rotating from your household and work assignments to your child’s virtual school assignments.

Some parents of traditional school students are reporting frustration. An April 21 headline from the Associated Press read, “’I Just Can’t Do This.’ Harried Parents Forgo Home School.” The featured parents expressed great concern that “their kids are falling behind.”

The day before the AP story, an article in The Atlantic encouraged schools to do more to help parents by giving students more space between assignments and urged parents to “take charge of their kids’ schooling.”

The scenario can be a frightening prospect for parents of children with special needs.

At the outset of the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education issued two “fact sheets” so that schools could attempt to move instruction online without fear of violating traditional equity requirements for these children. The fact sheets urged parents and educators to switch from “business as usual” to being “creative” to reconfigure learning during the pandemic.

The small cadre of parents and children using education savings accounts in Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee are one step ahead here. Because these families can use their accounts to pay for learning services and materials in and outside of their child’s school, they have been able to adjust their student’s instruction according to his or her needs.

An education savings account ensures that Anna Ragusa of North Carolina can continue to receive needed therapies during social distancing.

“We’ve been busy,” says Cara Ragusa, whose daughter, Anna, was diagnosed with Down syndrome. “I’ve got two kids who have a full day’s worth of work every day.”

The family was one of the first in North Carolina to use an education savings account when the option became available two years ago.

“Because of the account, Anna’s been able to continue to get her therapies online through Zoom and different platforms for 30 minutes at a time,” Ragusa said.

Alisson Talley, whose 12-year old daughter, JoEllen, uses an account in Mississippi, said the essence of an education savings account is to pull in the right resources “to keep children learning the way they learn best.”

“This pandemic has accentuated what an education savings account is, that one-on-one attention,” Talley said.

She explained that JoEllen, who lives with Down syndrome, has been forced by the pandemic to learn skills many children take for granted, such as proper e-mail etiquette. JoEllen has video conferences with her teachers in the morning, and they try to “simulate as much as they can from the regular classroom,” Talley said.

Meanwhile, Anna has meetings each week with a speech therapist and an occupational therapist.

“They share their screens and try to do interactive projects together,” Ragusa said.

Like everyone, the girls have had to adjust over the last two months.

“Anna thrives on repetitive routine for academic success, so that’s been a big setback while distance learning,” Ragusa said. “But having her teachers and therapists work with her regularly helps.”

Nearly two months into school closures, things are beginning to feel “a little bit normal,” she said, explaining that Anna sometimes has four calls or video chats each day involving work with her classroom teacher and different specialists.

Talley said the online coursework has been effective for JoEllen. But she worries that Mississippi lawmakers will try to cut online expenses from the list of available learning options next year, which would be “devastating.”

“It’s been refreshing to know that what we are asking for [to continue to purchase online services] works now,” she said. “It’s become a reality because it had to.”

What may not work for a child in one state will be a success for another with a similar diagnosis somewhere else. The same can be said for mainstream children, too.

This is why education savings accounts are so valuable to students from all walks of life, with or without special needs, inside or outside of a pandemic.

May 12, 2020 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Featured Gardiner Scholarship McKay Scholarship News Private Schools School Choice Special Needs Education Virtual Education

At this school for students with special needs, it’s can-do that’s infectious

Ron Matus April 1, 2020

Ron Matus

Bryce, a student at HOPE Ranch, connects with his teacher, Ms. Suzanne, and his parents who joined from remote locations.

HUDSON, Fla. – All four of Patricia Larkin’s kids have special needs, and all were making good progress at HOPE Ranch Learning Academy, a private school known for its equine therapy program. So when the coronavirus pandemic forced the single grandma to briefly veer into homeschooling, she got a little panicky.

“My children have to be on a routine. And when our country came to a halt, we knew something was going to happen with the schooling,” said Larkin, 59, who is raising three grandchildren and a grandniece. “I tried as hard as I possibly could to do the routine, but I’m not a teacher.”

Two things came to Larkin’s rescue: School choice scholarships, which allowed her children to stay at HOPE even though she just got laid off as a property manager. And the school itself.

The HOPE Ranch staff of 43 rallied around a parent-shaped plan to tailor distance learning to their 150 K-12 students, most of them on the autism spectrum.

“We had to re-invent school in a week. Those were 18-hour days nonstop,” said Jose Suarez, the school’s founder and executive director. Given gaps with devices and connections, “We had to come up with a system that was low tech, that could be deployed regardless of whether there was a computer in the home or not, and could be deployed on a daily basis.”

The early result: Rave reviews from parents like Larkin, who called the plan “brilliant.” And high hopes for the next steps, including a virtual version of equine therapy, the school’s main draw.

Lead teacher Ms. Terri, top left, connects with HOPE Ranch students each morning in an online ‘Social Group.’

A key question in the dash to distance learning is the impact on millions of students with special needs. Some school districts, fearful of being sued by parents of students with disabilities for not providing equitable services, have put a hold on learning for all students. Others are moving ahead, but in ways that aren’t making parents of students with disabilities happy. This is hard, tangled terrain.

In Florida, a national leader in education choice, it remains to be seen whether charter schools or private schools do any better. Those 2,600-plus schools, serving 700,000 students, aren’t getting much coverage. Even if they were, it’s risky to draw generalizations from a few schools, given how diverse those sectors are, and how varied the challenges for students with disabilities.

Florida, though, does present a unique window. It has long offered learning options to parents of students with disabilities. In 1999, it created the McKay Scholarship, a voucher for students with disabilities that now serves 30,000 students a year. In 2014, it created the Gardiner Scholarship, an education savings account for students with special needs that’s now serving more than 13,000 students. (It’s administered by nonprofits like Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)

Those scholarships help support a growing number of private schools that serve students with special needs, some of them exclusively. HOPE Ranch, nestled on an oaky stretch of sand hill an hour north of Tampa, is one of them.

Suarez said his team started discussions about remote learning in early March. But they kicked into high gear on March 13, when Gov. Ron DeSantis essentially ordered all public schools in the state to close. Staff quickly surveyed parents about digital capacity, and while not every family had enough computers or tablets for every child, they had phones that could suffice in the short term.

HOPE also asked parents to list their biggest concerns, and the parents were clear. We don’t want our kids falling behind, academically or socially. We don’t want them on computers all day. We don’t want to be their teachers.

The HOPE staff fashioned their plan on that input. Individualized learning packets would be distributed every week. Parents would be given a general schedule with deadlines, but with enough flexibility to figure out the best track for their kids. Using Google Hangouts, teachers would do a half-hour visual chat with each student at a set time every day.

The vast majority of Florida students returned to “school” on Monday, March 30. On Thursday and Friday of the prior week, HOPE teachers did trial runs with the chat platform. By Sunday night, Larkin’s kids were giddy. “They were, ‘I can’t wait! I can’t wait!’,” she said. “They knew they were going to see their teachers.”

HOPE Ranch student Nicole connects with her teacher during a half-hour visual chat they have every morning.

Larkin’s boys – Chad, 12, and Jordan, 7 – are both autistic. Her girls – Bryanna, 10, and Nicole, 10 – are both diagnosed with ADHD and PTSD. All four struggled in public schools. But at HOPE, Larkin said, their teachers know their specific challenges, and work diligently on specific remedies. Jordan, for example, used to avoid “circle time” with classmates because of extreme shyness. But rather than trying to force him to conform, his teachers let him stay back until he felt comfortable. Eventually, he joined on his own.

Bryanna has struggled with maintaining focus. So how sweet it was, Larkin said, that on her first chat on her first day back, Bryanna stayed locked in. “I thought I was in the Twilight Zone,” Larkin said. “They engaged like they were person to person in front of each other.”

HOPE teacher Kevin Trevithick said for his 13 high school students, the quick shift to distance learning has been a lesson unto itself.

“It’s time to adapt and move forward,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve tried to convey to them.”

One student is resisting the chats, said Trevithick, a former public school teacher, but the others are having fun with the novelty of the situation and the new technology. One told him he’s not a morning person, and now that he can set his own schedule, he’s getting more done.

Can this new way of “school” work for long? Trevithick said some students may get tired of being cooped up. But “people are incredibly adaptable,” he said. “If it’s something where this is the way it has to be, then I do think the majority of them will do just fine.”

The can-do attitude is infectious. Parents like Larkin are having to quickly navigate platforms and apps they never heard of, like Calendly and Adobe Scan. But when they learn they can do it, she said, the next challenge looks a little less daunting.

In the meantime, more programming is coming. On Friday, HOPE is rolling out “virtual chapel” and a virtual social skills class, which will allow the students to stay connected and interact. On Monday, it will begin online speech, occupational and ABA therapy, led by local district employees assigned to the school.

Monday is also the kickoff for the “Virtual and Interactive Horsemanship” class. HOPE students learn to ride, groom and care for a stable of horses. Along the way, they learn teamwork, resourcefulness, problem solving – and get some boosts for their self-esteem. Larkin said the horses helped Jordan, her youngest, come out of his shell. “He mounts those horses … and he’s beaming,” she said. But can it possibly work wonders when it’s online?

It’s working with her kids in the other settings, Larkin said.

So why not?

April 1, 2020 0 comment

Commentary and Opinion Education Choice Education Equity Education Politics Education Savings Accounts Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship McKay Scholarship Parent Empowerment Private School Scholarships School Choice Special Needs Education

Proposed funding cap in Arizona would deprive thousands

Matthew Ladner March 9, 2020

Matthew Ladner

Katie Swingle, mother of a child with autism, spoke before the Florida Senate Education Appropriations Committee in March 2015, imploring lawmakers to expand education choice options for children with special needs.

If you need to make a choice between reading this post or watching the video featuring the mom pictured above, please watch the video. Katie Swingle explains why families with children with special needs require and deserve access to education choice. Her story demonstrates why depriving them of choice is a terrible thing.

Sadly, there is an effort underway in Arizona to do exactly that.

Arizona’s Save Our Schools group has proposed a statewide ballot initiative that would create an overall participation cap on Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Program of 1 percent of the total student enrollment of the public school system. Once that cap is reached, students other than those with disabilities, including Native American children, those who have been in the foster care system, are zoned for D- or F-rated public schools, orphans and dependents of active duty military service members among others, would be purged from participating.

Upon completion of this purge, the program would lack the ability to serve additional special needs students. Last week, I noted that 1.7 percent of the total public school enrollment in Florida makes use of private choice programs for children with disabilities. I should further have noted that Florida has a waitlist of students with disabilities for the ESA program.

Historical program data allows us to assess the length of time it would take for the proposed cap to deny access to disadvantaged students if something like it were to be applied in Florida. As a thought experiment, imagine Florida’s multiple-choice programs debuting as a state-funded program in the same year that the McKay Scholarship program debuted.

This next part will require you to suspend your disbelief. Imagine a group of advantaged urban Floridians who exercise choice in their own families managing, from the outset of choice, to implement a cap in Florida for disadvantaged students. Floridians, of course, would find it nearly impossible to live with such a level of moral hypocrisy.

In Florida’s actual experience, lawmakers created a voucher program for students with disabilities and one for children in failing schools, followed by a tax-credit scholarship program for low-income students. Our thought experiment involves envisioning Florida following closer to the Arizona ESA experience: a single program starting with students with disabilities. A few years into the program, the Florida lawmakers of our thought experiment add low-income students into the eligibility pool for the state-funded program. Okay. So, how long would it have taken for the SOS cap to have purged disadvantaged students in Florida?

Let’s look first at the McKay Scholarship program for students with disabilities.

If the McKay Scholarship program had been the only choice program created, it would have exceeded the 1 percent cap by itself in 2013. After 2013, additional special needs children would have been denied access. Of course, it wasn’t the only program; Florida lawmakers also made low-income students eligible to participate in choice.

The combination of McKay and the tax credit program would have exceeded the SOS cap around 2004. “Let them eat cake,” the cap supporters would tell the tens of thousands of low-income families piling onto waitlists.

This isn’t the end of the story, however. Florida also created a special needs ESA program in 2015. This is the program used by the all-too-real mom in the video.

Every single one of these families, including the Swingle family, would have been denied choice under an SOS cap. Arizona’s ESA program is only a few years of growth away from reaching the proposed cap.

Supporters claim the cap will not impact current beneficiaries, but it clearly will. Moreover, there are thousands of Arizona students with disabilities today, and many more yet unborn, who would be denied access through the proposed cap.

March 9, 2020 0 comment

Customization Education Equity Gardiner Scholarship Parent Voices Parental Choice School Choice Special Needs Education Voices for Education Choice

Commentary: Florida needs more scholarships for special needs students

Special to redefinED October 17, 2019

Special to redefinED

Editor’s note: Amanda Bryant of Polk City and her husband are raising nine children, six of whom are homeschooled and three of whom have special needs. Bryant wrote this commentary for the Lakeland Ledger explaining her family’s reliance on the Gardiner Scholarship, which provides education choice to families of special needs children regardless of income.

When it comes to blended families, “The Brady Bunch” has nothing on mine.

My husband and I are parents or guardians to eight children under our roof. We also have a daughter who is away in college.

Six of them are home-schooled. Four of those are the children of my late sister-in-law. Two are my (very) younger sisters, who needed a more stable home life than what my mother could provide them.

Three boys have special needs: Eli, 14, has cystic fibrosis. He and his biological brother Ellis, 12, were both born with common variable immune deficiency (CVID), which makes them highly susceptible to infections. Ellis also has been diagnosed with level 2 autism. Their adopted brother, Easton, 6, is developmentally delayed. He has been diagnosed with apraxia of speech disorder (AOS) and is being tested for autism.

Eli and Ellis briefly attended public schools in their early elementary years, but their health issues eventually made it impossible to continue. They missed too much time being ill, and they were unable to obtain all the services they required. Home schooling is by far their best option. Easton is beginning kindergarten at home.