Reporting Highlights
- Toehold Strategy: Lawmakers created voucher programs for children with disabilities as part of a strategy to pave the way for today’s much larger programs open to all students.
asserted
Lawmakers → create → students
- Closed Doors: Unlike public schools, private ones generally aren’t required to educate students with disabilities.
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ones → close → disabilities
They often don’t.
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They → do → ?
In Florida, home to the nation’s largest voucher programs, we found that more than half of private schools say they do not serve students with any type of disabilities.
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they → find → disabilities
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
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who → write → story
It’s after 6 p.m. by the time Angela Johnson hurries home from work.
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Johnson → ’ → work
Her 12-year-old daughter, Amelia, is at their house outside of Pensacola, Florida, with a nurse trained to care for medically fragile children.
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daughter → train → children
Amelia, who was born with a rare genetic anomaly, has endured many surgeries and requires a brain shunt and a feeding tube.
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who → bear → shunt
The nurse starts caring for Amelia as soon as a bus from the public school drops her off.
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bus → start → her
Johnson loves much about the school.
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Johnson → love → school
But as a physical therapist, she also recognizes its limitations.
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she → recognize → limitations
The district’s physical and occupational therapists have to travel from school to school.
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therapists → have → school
The classroom teacher can become overburdened.
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teacher → become → ?
For all of Amelia’s life, Johnson has had to fight for the education and the school resources her daughter is entitled to receive under federal law.
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daughter → have → law
It has exhausted her.
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It → exhaust → her
Two years ago, she thought she’d found a better option for Amelia when she learned Florida has a state-funded voucher program for children with disabilities.
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Florida → think → disabilities
She jumped at the promise of “school choice.”
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She → jump → choice
The program, the largest of its kind in the country, channels taxpayer dollars into accounts that parents can use to pay for private school tuition and other education expenses.
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parents → channel → tuition
Johnson envisioned a private school with smaller classes and more one-on-one time with trained staff, a place where she didn’t have to battle for every minute of therapy her child required.
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child → envision → therapy
She imagined Amelia learning to cut a straight line and to write her name.
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Amelia → imagine → name
In 2024, Amelia was awarded about $10,500 from the program.
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Amelia → award → program
Thrilled, Johnson embarked on a weekslong hunt for a private school.
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Johnson → embark → school
She began scouring school websites, most of which said nothing about services for children with disabilities.
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most → begin → disabilities
She started calling schools, first an upscale Christian one nearby with a strong reputation.
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She → start → reputation
It had no nurse trained to care for medically fragile children, so she reached out to several other schools.
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she → have → schools
At first, some said they could help — until Johnson explained that her daughter had a feeding tube, that she couldn’t yet hold a pencil correctly and needed assistance toileting.
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she → say → assistance
Then they all said no.
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they → say → ?
Johnson couldn’t find a single one that provided nurses equipped to care for her daughter’s medical needs.
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that → find → needs
Therein lies the catch in “school choice” for children like Amelia.
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catch → lie → Amelia
Unlike public schools, private ones generally aren’t required to educate students with disabilities.
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ones → require → disabilities
And they often don’t.
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they → do → ?
The choice wasn’t hers, Johnson realized.
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Johnson → realize → ?
The vouchers “are basically designed to make you go to private school,” Johnson said, “but my kid can’t access private school.”
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kid → design → school
Johnson returned the money to the state, along with a very stern email.
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Johnson → return → email
Voucher programs and the private schools they increasingly fund have proliferated across the country.
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they → fund → country
Yet those schools often reject children with disabilities — the very kids who were used to help sell early voucher programs to lawmakers and the public — for having needs that are too costly, complex or disruptive.
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that → reject → needs
That leaves those children with few options beyond the public schools.
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That → leave → schools
And as public schools lose enrollment as a result of more and more voucher use, they lose resources that would benefit children who remain, including those with disabilities.
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who → lose → disabilities
About 3 million school-age children with disabilities live in states with universal voucher eligibility.
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children → live → eligibility
Florida, one of those states, illustrates how the promise of school choice can be empty for these children.
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promise → illustrate → children
…and 124 more, not listed.
