Florida ESA expansion receives unanimous House support

April 26, 2015

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

A bill to expand Florida’s Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts eligibility to children with muscular dystrophy and a wider array of the autism spectrum, and to include 3 and 4-year-old children otherwise eligible for special education services passed the Florida House of Representatives without a dissenting vote last week. The bill’s Senate companion also passed without dissent, and a large increase in the appropriation for the program is in the works, although just how large remains to be agreed upon. That increased funding will be needed given that parents have already begun 10,000 applications for next year, which outnumbers current participants by more than 5 to 1.

So far ESA programs have doubled from 2 to 4, with Mississippi and Tennessee joining the family, and we are waiting on word from Montana. The lawmakers in the states with the pre-existing programs have expanded eligibility in both. Bills in a number of other states remain in play. Delightfully, our experiment in ordered K-12 liberty continues to gain momentum.

Let’s see what happens next.

 

 

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Arizona Legislature Sends ESA expansion to tribal lands bill to Governor

April 2, 2015

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Arizona Senator Carlyle Begay succeeded today in passing SB 1332, which will expand eligibility to the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program to all children living on tribal lands. Senator Begay bravely faced a great deal of hostility from his own party on this issue, but correctly noted in committee testimony that the state ought to be seeking every possible way to get better results in Arizona’s tribal schools, and there was no reason to expect a mass exodus.

NAEP backs this position up completely:

Az American Indian NAEP

Congratulations to Senator Begay for leading on an important and difficult issue for the children in his district.  Congrats also for the Arizona choice coalition that worked very hard through an especially trying legislative session.

UPDATE: Senator Begay stated the following in a recent column: “Serving in the Arizona State Legislature is not a popularity contest, nor is it a platform for grandstanding. I am here to serve my district, serve my state and uphold the progressive values that keep me moving forward.”

Two additional Democrats in the Arizona Senate joined Senator Begay in voting for final passage.

!!BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

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AZ ESA applications close tomorrow

March 31, 2015

ESA

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

The ESA application period for next year ends tomorrow in Arizona. Nice problem to have (image from the AZ Department of Education ESA page). H/T Kim Martinez, American Federation for Children.

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Mississippi Legislature Passes Account Based Choice Program for Special Needs Students

March 26, 2015

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

The Mississippi Senate concurred with the House special needs ESA bill today, sending the measure to the Governor, who is a strong supporter. Mississippi thus becomes the nation’s third state with an account based parental choice program. Special congratulations to the bill sponsors and tireless supporters for a successful two-year struggle, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, Empower Mississippi and especially the parents who fought so hard for this legislation. Awesome team effort that paid off in the end.

!!BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Also today a special needs voucher  bill passed the Arkansas house 90-0.

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Peshek on ESA legislation around the nation

March 11, 2015

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

My colleague Adam Peshek has a post up about the progress of ESA legislation around the country, including the above map. I would like to again thank my friends in the Arizona school district industrial lobbying complex. Without their having made the grave mistake of filing suit against two tiny voucher programs for children with special needs and foster care students, we would not be having this conversation today!

Most of the bills are in fact conversation starters, but one of those (in Virginia) passed one house and failed on a tie vote in the other.

Which state will be the next to turn red on Adam’s map? As an old football coach once told me “it depends on who is the bestus and wants it the mostus.”

Stay tuned to this channel…

UPDATE : The Mississippi House passed a special needs pilot program today 65-51, now heads to the Senate to be reconciled. Oklahoma effort pushed to next year’s session.

UPDATE Part Deux: Rhode Island has an ESA effort underway.

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ESA makes a Customized Education Possible for Jordan Visser

April 10, 2013

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Watch the above video from the Alliance for School Choice, and mind you, that the customized education that Jordan is receiving is using only state funds which districts have spent decades describing as inadequate. Whatever school district Jordan used to attend, assuming that school finance works the way public school advocates and lobbyists have claimed, would have been making a large shift of their own general education dollars in an attempt to educate Jordan.  The district suffers no harm in losing Jordan, and in fact, one could make the case that they now have more resources to use on their remaining students.

Jordan benefits having an education custom designed to meet his needs.

Sadly a group of the anti-choice usual suspects are in court trying to make use of Blaine language forged by 19th Century Know-Nothing and Ku Klux Klan bigots in an effort to force students like Jordan back into district schools. I hope they will reconsider.

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