I’d like to share my daughter Mia’s story with you.
She is an amazing 11-year old girl, who at age three was diagnosed with autism. Mia’s story is likely similar to others; she was going to public school previously, and let’s just say we had an “adventuresome” time with our IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings.
I remember walking in and there would be staff that we already knew were really challenged by my daughter. Even in a classroom with 15 kids, with a special education teacher and an assistant, my daughter was quite the handful.
She was quite a handful, but for good reasons. Ever school day my daughter was woken up about 5:30 in the morning and was on a bus by 6:30. I would then pick her up at about 2:30 p.m. so she can go get ABA therapy (Advanced Behavioral Analysis) at a clinic until about 6 p.m.
Credit youthtoday.org
Qualifying income levels and maximum grants would rise for North Carolina’s publicly funded scholarship program for K-12 students to attend private schools under a measure approved by the state Senate. The legislation was approved Tuesday on a nearly party-line vote. It favors Republicans attempts to build on the Opportunity Scholarship Program started several years ago by the GOP. The measure also would combine the state’s two scholarship programs for children with disabilities. The House already approved a somewhat similar measure. Any final measure approved would go to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is a longtime opponent of education vouchers.
The N.C. Senate has passed its own version of a school-choice expansion bill that would open the state’s three choice programs to even more low- and middle-income households and families of students with special needs.
Senate Bill 671 passed largely along party lines in a 29-20 vote on Tuesday, May 4. Sen. Kirk deViere from Cumberland County was the lone Democrat to vote in favor of the bill. Cumberland County has the largest number of students on Opportunity Scholarships in the state, followed by Mecklenburg and Wake counties.
“School choice shouldn’t be a privilege reserved only for the wealthy,” said Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, one of the bill’s primary sponsors. “All children, regardless of their financial circumstances, deserve the opportunity to attend the school that’s best for them. The same activists who supported school closures and claim to care about ‘equity’ turn their backs on families searching for the school setting where their child would thrive.
A bill that would expand access to and increase state funding for private school scholarship programs was approved Tuesday by the North Carolina Senate.
Legislation to expand school choice in North Carolina is on the move in both chambers of the General Assembly, after both the N.C. Senate Education Committee and Rules Committee OK’ed a measure to increase the dollar value of Opportunity Scholarships and open them to more families.
Senate Bill 671 passed out of committee with little debate, but the gloves are sure to come off when the bill lands on the Senate floor.
“Every parent has more information than the best teacher, the best administrator, the best bureaucrat could ever have as to the needs of a particular child,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham. “The circumstances of birth shouldn’t constrain a child’s educational opportunities.”