The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. Patrick Henry
Additional funding for the Education Scholarship Account (ESA) program was slipped into an unrelated appropriations bill for the Department of Finance and Administration at literally the last minute before legislators had time to read the bill. The vouchers allow parents of children with special needs to use taxpayer dollars to pay for private schools that may or may not be equipped to serve children with disabilities.
To be clear, I am not opposed to school choice for parents of children with disabilities or any other parents, in principle. However, I totally disagree with the way choice is being implemented in our state and am afraid it will not end well for the children the program is intended to benefit.
Consider a few of the findings of the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER Committee) report on the ESA.
- Only five of the 96 schools receiving funds from vouchers were designed to serve students with disabilities.
- One third of private schools reporting stated they employed no special education teachers.
- Sixty-seven percent of private schools serving children with disabilities in Mississippi under the vouchers turn around and contract with the public school to provide special education, although in order to receive a voucher, parents must sign an acknowledgement that their children will not receive any level of services and they are not entitled to an individualized education program (IEP).
- It is impossible to know how well private schools are serving children with disabilities because there are noaccountability requirements for schools participating in the program.
- Eighteen percent of students who received vouchers were already in the private schools before getting a voucher.
I know some excellent private schools who have high quality programs for students with disabilities. And those schools voluntarily accept the neediest students, have teachers who are trained and qualified to teach children with disabilities, provide personalized services, and share their data for analysis. It is hard to buy the claims of legislators that they care so deeply about children with disabilities while they don’t want to know whether the program is actually helping.
I have spent my adult life working to improve the availability and quality of services for students with disabilities and their families, having worked in special education at the local, state, and federal levels. I have worked side-by-side with stakeholders in Mississippi and across the country to develop and implement policies that improve outcomes for people with disabilities, and I understand the perspectives of both educators and families.
It is true that many children with disabilities are not getting what they need in their local public schools. That’s a problem that can be fixed and the legislature should focus on enacting meaningful change to ensure schools can and do provide the supports and services needed by children with special learning and behavioral needs, along with sufficient accountability measures.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
If Mississippi’s voucher program is so great, why the need to sneak in the funding? If private programs receiving vouchers are good for children with disabilities, why not collect data on student outcomes and make it publicly available? Only then can parents make a fully informed decision about what is best for their children and taxpayers can judge the wisdom of having public dollars spent on private schools.
If our leaders conceal the facts and hide their “transactions” as the Mississippi legislature did at the end of this term, all our liberties are in jeopardy.
by Dr. Melody Musgrove