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The Arkansas state legislature s first foray into education vouchers was in 2015, when it created the state-funded Succeed Scholarship for children with disabilities. Launched the following year, the program currently gives parents nearly $7,000 per year to help send an eligible child to a private school. Not a single legislator voted against the bill, a rare achievement for school choice legislation in a state where public schools have historically gotten bipartisan support.
In the program s first year, it funded just 23 students. Today, it s assisting 479 students and costing the state $3.3 million a year, according to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Eligibility has been expanded to include some children in the foster care system. The scholarships are administered by ADE and the Reform Alliance, a nonprofit group funded in part by the Walton Family Foundation, a lead backer of school choice reforms in Arkansas.
April 29, 202112:47 pm
Olivia Paschal reports today for Facing South on criticism of the state’s first school voucher program, the “Succeed Scholarship,” which now provides up to $7,000 a year to send 479 students, many with learning disabilities, to private schools.
The program has grown 20 fold from its beginning and was cited repeatedly during the recent legislative session as a success and a reason for the expansion of school vouchers to another 250 children in a $2 million program that was passed over public school opposition in the final days of the session.
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Writes Paschal:
But parents and education advocates are questioning how accountable the program is to the state and whether it adequately serves students with complex needs. They also point to the program’s lack of accessibility for families in poverty, the geographic concentration of recipients, and the requirement that participating parents or guardians temporarily sign away their child’s rig
A state Senate committee is advancing a bill that would broaden eligibility for a Georgia program that pays for special education students to attend private schools.
Georgia Senate panel seeks wider special education vouchers lmtonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lmtonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.