Relates to establishing the students with disabilities school choice act

Title of bill

An act to amend the education law, in relation to establishing the students with disabilities school choice act

Purpose or general idea of bill

Authorizes any parent of a public school special needs student who is dissatisfied with the student's progress to quality for a scholarship from the state for the child to enroll in and attend an alternative public or non-public school if they meet certain criteria.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 -- The education law is amended by adding a new article 107 which creates the Students with Disabilities School Choice Act. Any parent of a special needs student who is dissatisfied with the student's progress shall quality for a scholarship from the state for the child to enroll in and attend a non-public school if: the special needs student has an individual education plan written in accordance with the rules of the department, the student has been accepted for admission at a participating school, and the parent has requested a scholarship from the state before the deadline established by the department.

The maximum scholarship granted an eligible student shall be an amount equivalent to the cost of the educational program that would have been provided for the student in the resident school district. At any time, the student's parent may remove the student from the participating school and place the student in another participating school or in a public school. Public schools will be responsible for informing parents of the scholarship program. The resident school district will be responsible for the transportation to the participating school.

The education department will be responsible for establishing the eligibility and participation of non-public schools, the calculation and distribution of scholarships and application approval procedures for eligible students and participating schools. The department may also bar a school from eligibility. Participating schools will be analyzed to ensure that they are using the funds appropriately.

Justification

This legislation allows special needs students to use a scholarship to attend a public school outside their district as well as a non-public school. This would allow parents the widest possible array of choices so they can choose the school that best meets their child's special needs. Making sure parents can choose either a public or non-public school is not only the right policy but also the best legal strategy. The U.S. Supreme Court and various state courts have all cited this broad array of choices as an important part of the reason they have found school choice programs constitutional. The courts have reasoned that these scholarship programs are not an inappropriate subsidy of religious institutions because the purpose was secular. Since this state has several schools that specialize in students with disabilities, New York should be able to add an option for non-public schools without encountering constitutional questions.

This legislation empowers parents solely to determine whether their child's needs are being met by his or her existing public school and whether their child should be transferred to another public or non-public school. By placing the determination in the hands of the patent, this approach ensures that the person making the decision is the one with the greatest interest in the child's progress, avoids expensive and unproductive legal battles, and forces the resident public schools to meet the needs of these children or lose them to another public or non-public school.

Prior legislative history

2007-08 (A10250)

Fiscal implications

Undetermined EFFECTIVE DATE : This act shall take effect on the first of September after it shall have become a law.