Patty Miller

EDMOND — A special needs tax credit program was unveiled recently that would provide tax credits for contributions that provide tuition scholarships to allow public school special needs students to attend private schools of their choice if they wish.

The program was proposed by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs and the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

“The Friedman Foundation has worked tirelessly nationwide,” said state Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond. “One of the areas we have seen great need is in special education. The federal government has tied the hands of administrators and special education teachers, and we find teachers are spending more time on reports than teaching.”

Such a program would provide alternatives for the students and their families and could generate fiscal benefits for both the state and local school districts, Jolley said.

The senator said he believed some parents would like to have the option to send their child to a school that is geared, for example, toward a highly functioning autistic child.

“Parents of students with disabilities face a number of tough choices as they go about seeking the best education for their children,” said Christian D’Andrea, of the Friedman Foundation. “This is true throughout the country. One promising option that Oklahoma policymakers might consider is to establish a scholarship tax credit program for special needs students, which would provide families with alternatives available for their children whose needs are not being met by the public school system.”

Jolley said he thinks public schools are doing the best they can.

In the Edmond schools, “Washington Irving (Elementary) has a special needs program that is excellent,” he said.

“Their reputation has gotten out. If someone is wealthy enough to move into the Washington Irving district they have the opportunity to send their child to the school of their choice,” Jolley said. “We are looking at more options. Take some of the dollars that would have been used by the state and give it to the child to use at public or private schools.”

The report by Friedman Senior Fellow Brian Gottlo found that the state and also the local districts would save tax dollars if the special-needs scholarships were set at $5,000.

Edmond spends

$17.7 million

on special education

Edmond Superintendent David Goin said he and his district personnel need more information and more time to fully study the proposal.

“Generally speaking, I think any voucher program would likely generate disparate participation rates across the state and even within metropolitan areas,” Goin said.

“Among primary factors influencing parental decisions would be the perceived strength of their local public school district’s programs for special-needs students and the availability and overall perceived advantages/disadvantages of private school alternatives,” he said.

“From a public school district’s cost standpoint, it would appear that, unless there would be a concentrated decrease in the number of students served sufficient to create reductions in staffing levels and operational costs, there could be a potentially significant loss in district revenues without corresponding reductions in costs.”

Jolley said on average a special needs child costs $6,000 a year more to educate than a child in regular enrollment.

According to Edmond Public Schools Chief Financial Officer David Fraser, in 2007-08 the district spent $17.7 million for the direct support of special education, which was 15.4 percent of the total budget. This was $6,587 per child for 2,687 children requiring mild to severe special educational needs.

During the same time the cost to educate the regular school population was $5,764 per pupil.

The Oklahoma proposal is similar to one passed in Florida in 1998, which provides vouchers for students with disabilities. Since first implemented in 2000-01, the Florida program, known as the McKay Scholarship Program, has grown from serving 970 students in 100 private schools to serving 19,852 students in 846 private schools. Since the Florida program was enacted, special education voucher programs have been put through in Ohio, Utah, Georgia and Arizona.

“What we have found in Florida is that there is an increased amount of satisfaction and reduced levels of antagonism between parents and school systems,” D’Andrea said.

The study, titled “The Fiscal Impact of Tax-Credit Scholarships in Oklahoma,” looked at Oklahoma’s school funding system as well as the demographics of the state’s special-needs population in both public and private schools. It also developed a model that explored the fiscal impact of a special-needs tax credit program on the state budget and on local school districts.

“Early criticism is this is just another voucher program,” Jolley said. “It is not.”

He said the goal is to increase dollars for public schools while decreasing liability and maximizing opportunities for special needs children.

“I do not have a final plan,” Jolley said, “but I am interested in hearing other opinions. My goal is to make sure each child has the opportunity to learn including those children with special needs.”

Jolley said the scholarship program would have to be tied to the severity of the disability.

Under a tax credit program, individuals or corporations who make donations to private charitable organizations would receive a state tax credit. The charitable organizations then use the money to fund scholarships for students.

“Tax-credit programs provide a much more efficient mechanism to direct dollars to education than increasing state aid,” said Brandon Dutcher, OCPA’s vice president for policy and an Edmond resident. “But more importantly, the kind of program we are talking about here increases parental satisfaction and reduces the inherent conflicts and confrontations that play out countless times each year between parents of special-needs students and public school districts.”