Oppose Public School Vouchers or Similar Programs

Goal: Students with disabilities and their families have achieved important educational rights under federal and state law in Texas’ public schools. No measures, such as public school vouchers or any similar programs that take funds and children from the public school, should be permitted to weaken our public school system.

Problem: Public school vouchers are particularly problematic for children with disabilities on three fronts: segregation, accessibility and cost.

• Segregation: In past legislative sessions, public school voucher programs were proposed that would serve only specific groups of students with disabilities—which would necessarily segregate students with disabilities from those without. Such segregation denies the benefits that have been accomplished through the inclusion efforts of the last three decades.
• Accessibility: Only those families located in an area that offers such programs or those who could afford transportation would be able to access these programs.
• Cost: Private schools offering targeted services to student with disabilities are likely to charge more than the amount of the voucher, thus limiting low-income families from participating in this option.

Recommendation: The Texas Legislature needs to oppose public school vouchers or any similar programs that take money from the already under-funded public schools that will continue to serve the majority of students with disabilities.

Background/Justification: The best way to enhance the education of students with disabilities in Texas is to strengthen the programs available in the public schools for all students and for the Texas Education Agency to enforce existing laws. Given that private schools do not have to comply with federal laws, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), No Child Left Behind, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, public schools have been the school of choice for the majority of families with students with disabilities.

Public school vouchers, or similar programs with different names, are particularly problematic for children with disabilities and their families.

• These programs weaken the public school system by siphoning funds from the system that serves the majority of children.
• If a public school voucher program is created to serve only students with disabilities—as was recommended in previous legislative sessions, this practice must be questioned as to the legal requirement of educating a child in the “least restrictive environment.” These types of programs have been ruled discriminatory in the past, and would necessarily cause segregation of children with disabilities from those without disabilities.
• These targeted voucher programs potentially limit low-income families of children with disabilities from participating, with the costs of these programs exceeding the amount of the voucher.
• Under voucher programs, private schools can make it a practice to accept only the students with the mildest disabilities, leaving the students with the most significant educational needs in the public schools once again, removing resources from the public schools and leaving the most costly educational interventions.