| Vouchers for disabled bill introduced |
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| Written by Todd Engdahl | |
| Tuesday, February 05 2008 | |
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Sen. Nancy Spence and Rep. Spencer Swalm, both Centennial Republicans, have introduced a bill that would create a pilot program that would allow parents of disabled children in grades K to 12 to use state vouchers to pay for the education of children in private schools. The pilot program in the Denver Public School would run through 2012, based on the current wording of Senate Bill 08-142. The amount of the voucher would equal the per-pupil state funding in a given year, but school districts could continue including such children in their pupil counts and keep the local funding share. Families could renew the vouchers every year until the child re-enrolls in a public school, graduates from high school or turns 21. A child’s disability would be re-evaluated by experts every three years. To be enter the program, a child would have to have been in public school and participating in an individualized education program for one year beforehand. To participate, private schools would have to apply to the State Department of Education, and the bill lays out specific requirements for schools, including equal opportunity admissions. While the bill addresses a very specific need, it’s possible it will spark questions from education groups concerned about diversion of state funds from public school districts to private institutions. The bill is part of the Republicans’ “Real Solutions” agenda announced before the start of the 2008 legislative session. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, February 10 2008 ) |
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