The Senate’s main “school choice” bill would prioritize vouchers for children with disabilities, among other underprivileged groups. But advocates and parents raised concerns that voucher recipients who choose private school would no longer be protected by federal law.
Students' backpacks hang off the back of their chairs in an empty classroom at Blanco Vista Elementary School in San Marcos on Monday August, 23, 2021.
“Our public school enrollment is growing. Our special education population is growing,” Aleman testified Tuesday. “We need to focus on supporting that system first and foremost, and , quite frankly, are just a luxury we cannot afford.” Gonzalez Saucedo, whose sister has an intellectual disability, said another concern is that vouchers could create “segregated education” between disabled and non-disabled students. Students with disabilities often benefit from the chance to learn and play alongside non-disabled peers, and vouchers might incentivize parents to separate their children, she said.
But even if given the chance to attend a private school, disability rights advocates raised concerns that private schools will simply not admit children with disabilities. And private schools, specifically for students with disabilities, are often in urban areas and have tuition fees upwards of $20,000 annually, according to Jacquie Benestante, executive director of the Autism Society of Texas.
“If one of my constituents, who maybe falls under that category of economically disadvantaged free or reduced lunch, and they get their hopes up and they go and apply to that private school, but they turned away because maybe they're not the right religion or the right color — that’s why I'm concerned because these are tax dollars,” Menéndez said.
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