Vouchers meet special needs
Posted August 27, 2012 in Press Releases
But new scholarship programs cuts into public school funds
Hundreds of Ohio students who have special needs are getting help paying for private schooling for the first time this school year.
Ohio’s new Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship will initially help pay for the private education of 1,369 students, with more expected to apply this fall.
The voucher program makes millions of dollars in state money available to special-needs students to pay tuition and fees at private schools or at special education providers other than their home public school district.
Ohio is one of eight states nationwide to offer such comprehensive, state-funded scholarships. Ohio already has a scholarship for children with autism, but parents of students with other special needs have for years sought a voucher program of their own.
Parents in the Cincinnati Public Schools district filed more scholarship applications than any district in the state