Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for hearing this bill today and receiving my testimony.  My name is Earl Simms and I am the State Director for the Children’s Education Council of Missouri.  We are Missouri’s leading advocates for education reform.

Scholarship tax credit programs are in use in multiple states with many of these programs focusing on special needs students.  Contrary to what you may hear in opposition testimony, public education in these states has not crumbled.

According to December 2008 data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education the state is home to almost 133,000 children on Individualized Education Plans, almost 6,000 of these plans are for children whose IEP results from a diagnosis on the autism spectrum.  In many cases, the parents of these students are satisfied with the education that their child is receiving.  In the cases where these students are not receiving an education that is helping them to move toward leading a successful life, they should have an option such as a tax credit scholarship program.

An appropriate education for these children can often run into hundreds of thousands of dollars over their K-12 education career.  That is simply an expense that most families cannot afford, especially in light of many of the medical expenses that these families are incurring.  As a result, many of these children are led to a life of dependency or social welfare.  Failing to help these children also takes a heavy toll on their families.  Instances of divorce and bankruptcies are much higher among families with autistic children.

Considering that we have tax credit programs for all types of economic development, I can think of no more worthy tax credit program than one that would help develop a child with a special need.

I want to thank Representative Scharnhorst for again filing this legislation and I ask each member of this committee to support this bill.  Thank you and I would be happy to take any questions.

This legislation was named for Representative Scharnhorst’s late grandson Bryce, who was autistic.  CECM looks forward to once again supporting Bryce’s Law to give families with IEPs access to the best possible education. Please check out our section on Scholarship Tax Credits for more information on how these programs are helping students in other states.

The Department of Development would oversee the program and would determine who could be a sponsorship organization.  The department would also be required to conduct studies that measure the student achievement, parent satisfaction and fiscal impact of the program.  The bill would sunset after six years.

This legislation was named for Representative Scharnhorst’s late grandson Bryce, who was autistic.  CECM looks forward to once again supporting Bryce’s Law to give families with IEPs access to the best possible education. Please check out our section on Scholarship Tax Credits for more information on how these programs are helping students in other states.

The following pieces of legislation will be filed later this week:

House Education Committee Chairman Scott Dieckhaus will file legislation to base tenure on teacher effectiveness, measured in part by student performance.

House Assistant Minority Floor Leader Tishaura Jones will file legislation to allow charter public schools to open statewide, increase the opportunities for businesses and non- profits to sponsor charters and increase accountability on charters to improve or close low performing schools.  Charter schools are currently only allowed to open in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Representatives Cole McNary and Jamilah Nasheed will file legislation to curb social promotion by not allowing students to move to the next grade if they are not on reading level.

Representative Dwight Scharnhorst will file Bryce’s Law, a scholarship tax credit program for children with autism.  The bill, which was heavily debated during the 2008 session, is named after his late grandson who was autistic.

A bi- partisan group of members of the Missouri House attended the press conference and stood with these legislators to show support for beginning a dialogue on these bills to dramatically reform Missouri education.  The Children’s Education Council of Missouri will work with all of the legislators on these bills throughout the legislative process.

Also, as part of National School Choice Week, CECM participated in a discussion panel after a private screening for legislators of likely Oscar documentary nominee Waiting for Superman.  CECM is also co- hosting a screening for legislators of the critically acclaimed documentary The Lottery.

A: It creates a special needs scholarship tax credit program to be administered by the Department of Economic Development. The director of the DED establishes criteria and standards to determine which organizations may be classified as scholarship granting organizations. Parents will be able to use the scholarships to send their children to a school well-suited for their special needs. This legislation is strictly intended to assist special needs children and their families in affording the best available educational opportunities.

Q: Who does this legislation serve?

A: This legislation would serve K – 12 students currently attending a public school with an IEP including, but not limited to students who are mentally handicapped, speech and language impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, visually impaired, dual sensory impaired, physically impaired, emotionally handicapped, specific learning disabled, diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, or hospitalized or homebound due to illness or disability.

Q: How will these scholarships help parents?

A: These scholarships will give parents the opportunity to choose for their children to attend public school in another district or an approved private school. The program would provide parents many more options as they attend to the needs of their children’s education. Families receiving scholarships will be able to use them not only for payment of tuition and fees at their chosen school, but also to cover the costs of transportation to a public school outside of a student’s resident school district.

Q: How will the special needs scholarships be funded?

A: The scholarships will be funded entirely by charitable donations from Missouri taxpayers who freely choose to contribute to the educational well-being of special needs children. Beginning in 2009, an individual or corporate taxpayer may claim a tax credit against the taxpayer’s state tax liability in an amount equal to 80% of the taxpayer’s contribution to a scholarship granting organization.

Q: Has similar legislation passed in other states?

A: Yes. Legislation has successfully passed in Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, and Utah to create special needs scholarship programs.

Q: Will students lose rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) if they participate in the scholarship?

A: No, although IDEA rights apply only to public schools receiving federal funds under the IDEA. Once a student leaves the public school system, the IDEA does not apply to the relationship between the student and their chosen non-public school. However, a student is free at any time to return to the public school system where the IDEA applies.

Q: Does this program hinder the progress the special needs community has made to mainstream students into the typical classroom?

A: Both public and private schools can offer typical classroom settings for students with special needs. This scholarship program offers parents more resources with which to find the schools best prepared to serve their children’s educational needs. In some cases, parents may decide their children are better off in a specialized setting rather than a typical classroom. Research has shown that the attention given in a specialized environment can effectively equip a special needs student to return to a traditional classroom for the remainder for their education or participate in more incorporated activities with the typical student.

Q: How are private schools regulated?

A: Private schools, including those eligible to participate in the scholarship program, are already regulated under state law. Private schools are bound by non-discrimination laws and must also meet the same legal requirements as public schools when it comes to the safety of their students. Schools participating in the special needs scholarship program would be required to meet the same state requirements for criminal background checks for employees and exclude from employment any person not permitted by state law to work in a nonpublic school. More importantly, the parents of scholarship students will be holding their chosen schools accountable. Parents are in a far better position than just about any government official to determine whether a nonpublic school is adequately meeting their child’s needs. If one school is not providing what the child needs, these scholarships allow parents to find another school that will.

Q: Does this scholarship program hurt public schools by taking money away?

A: No. Since these scholarships will be funded entirely by private, charitable donations, the public schools will retain all the money they would normally receive under the state’s school finance formula.  The effect on the public schools will be exactly the same as when a non-scholarship student goes to a private school or moves to another school district.  In fact, since educating special needs children is so resource-intensive and many public schools are not well-equipped for that task, the scholarship program may even make it easier for public schools to focus on traditional education.  A recent study published by the Show-Me Institute shows that tax credit scholarship programs would allow thousands of Missouri’s children to have access to better, more personalized educational opportunities—but they would also save the state millions of dollars each year because the scholarships would be paid for with charitable donations instead of tax dollars.

Q: Can parents use the scholarships at private religious schools? Is that constitutional?

A: Yes, the program would allow parents to use the scholarships at private religious schools. Since the scholarships are completely funded by private donations, this program should not raise Constitutional questions about public funds going to religious schools.  Even if the program did use public funds, however, the United States Supreme Court recently affirmed, in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the constitutionality of school choice programs that include both religious and non-religious schools.  While the Missouri Constitution is understood to be more restrictive than the First Amendment where public funds and religious organizations are concerned, in Americans United v. Rogers, the Missouri Supreme Court approved of a scholarship program for college students that allowed public funds to be used at participating religious schools. And just last year, in Saint Louis University v. Masonic Temple Association of Saint Louis, the Missouri Supreme Court held that a Catholic school was constitutionally permitted to realize financial benefit from application of Missouri’s Tax Increment

There are few scholarship programs that exist for special needs students, especially if you are in a high school grade level. While there are financial assistance programs for early intervention of younger students, they are usually focused on a few specific disabilities and are limited in the scope of what the assistance will cover. The dollar amount of these programs is usually not enough for a parent to remove their child from a school district and place them in private services.

A common piece of advice that a parent receives is to call an IEP meeting to review their child’s goals and the progress toward those goals. The IEP is the Individualized Education Plan that is put together for a special needs student outlining goals for that individual student’s education, and how they will be met. Parents who call our office report their frustration with the IEP process. They state that no one in the meeting is on their side and education terms are not clearly defined. The overall feeling is that they are railroaded into the plans put together by the teachers or agencies in the meeting and have very little input. Meetings called by a parent to review a struggling student’s IEP often begins with a long delay in even holding the meeting and ends with the student’s little progress being excused away. The parent eventually gets tired of fighting this system and begins to seek a way to remove their child from the district that is failing them.

When a parent begins on this road, they quickly find that it is very difficult to move their child. In St. Louis and Kansas City, public charter schools may be one option. Unfortunately, there are no charter schools that focus only on special needs. The main roadblock to this is that, per Missouri’s charter school law, students must be admitted by a lottery process and not screened in any way before entry. It remain to be seen if a charter school in St. Louis or Kansas City built for special needs students would be successful solely based on the thought that only parents of special needs students would apply to a lottery for their school. According to the Center for Education Reform, there are 85 special needs charter schools in the country, mostly in Florida and Ohio. Even if these schools were to open in St. Louis and Kansas City and be successful, what option does a parent outside of those two districts have? Missouri is the only state in the country that has a geographic cap on charter schools. This cap limits charter schools to opening only inside of the St. Louis and Kansas City Public School districts. The schools can also only accept students who live in these districts.

Parents who call our office usually know that the law requires a free, appropriate public education to be afforded to their child. Therefore, they ask “can’t I just transfer my child to another district with better services?” The answer is unfortunately “no.” This ideal is called open enrollment and Missouri has yet to join the 40 other states in the country who have some form of open enrollment. Open enrollment simply allows parents to transfer their child to a school outside of their assigned district if the receiving district has room. For more on open enrollment, check out our previous post on how open enrollment would help special needs students.

Parents also call in and ask if there are special schools in their district only for special needs students. Twenty three districts contract with Special School District (SSD) of St. Louis County, who operates five special education schools. This leaves 500 districts in the state of Missouri without this option. Parents also report to us the difficulty of getting their child moved into SSD. One parent reported their child being suspended 11 times in the current school year before the district would discuss SSD as an option. According to the parent, this child was on an IEP the previous year and had far fewer behavioral incidents, but was removed from an IEP in the current school year, against the parent’s wishes.

The bottom line in all of these stories is that the parents of the 133,000 Missouri children with IEPs have very few options when they feel the assigned local district is not able to meet the needs of their child. Implementing real education reforms in Missouri will have a positive impact on special needs families. Open enrollment, charter school expansion and scholarship tax credit programs are all good ways to give parents options when their assigned local districts are not educating their children. Districts should look at this recent United Supreme Court case as evidence that the law gives parents great powers when seeking the appropriate education for their child. Districts should jump on board for reforms, or risk paying for children to go to specialized schools, even without their consent. Furthermore, having options will help these children on a path to become productive members of society. Isn’t that what everyone should be working toward?

In some cases, as Meta, MO mother Lois Wankum testified to the committee at their October 20th hearing, students are much closer to a school in an adjacent district than the one to which they are assigned. In other cases, parents are simply looking to remove their child from a failing school district and enroll them in ones that are better performing. For many special needs parents this policy could unlock the doors of educational opportunity for their child that is trapped in a district that does not have the appropriate services to help their child.

Open enrollment would allow for these parents, who often do not have the means to send their child to a private education service such as TouchPoint or Giant Steps, to move their child to a district that may have better services. For example, the Rockwood School District in suburban St. Louis County gave an excellent presentation on their special needs services at the St. Louis meeting of the Interim Committee on Autism Spectrum Disorders. At the same hearing a mother gave desperate testimony on how her autistic child was having many problems in his local school district and she could not afford to send her child to a specialized private school. “I am drowning here” was the phrase that she repeated over and over. Why should her head continue to be held under water by outdated school district lines? Why should these district lines trap her son in the boundaries of receiving an ineffective education instead of receiving a possible lifeline of intervention leading to a productive, healthy life?

A study in Minnesota, one of 25 states that have open enrollment, shows that “the families of special-needs students are increasingly using the open-enrollment option and are satisfied with their choices.” This same option could be a reality for the families of 133,000+ IEP students in the state of Missouri, should the state choose to allow this policy. These families are not concerned with outdated school boundaries, only with seeing that their child has the best possible education options, and thus the best chance for leading a productive life.

At the same time school districts are scrambling to deal with decreased funding as the economic recession has led to declining tax revenue. St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) recently cutting nursing staff in their district is just one of many recent examples of schools cutting back to close budget deficits. SLPS is dealing with a deficit of $53 million.

The reality that children with autism, and other special needs, are increasing at an alarming rate and schools are receiving less funds leads to this question: How will these special needs students receive an appropriate education? In Missouri, legislators are having trouble funding existing programs, like Career Ladder which gives teachers additional pay for performing extra tutoring and other functions, and are warning of more cuts to come. In addition Missouri,according to the recommendation of the state’s education commissioner, is not applying for the first half of the Race to the Top federal competitive grant program.

One way forward in funding of special needs education is to incentivize the private charity of businesses and individuals to get involved. One way other states have done this is by allowing scholarship tax credit programs. In these programs individuals or corporation are given tax credits for donating to an approved scholarship program. These scholarships are awarded to individuals and used at the school of their choice or to receive additional specialized education in addition to the school they are currently attending. Several states including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Utah have scholarship tax credit programs targeted at students with special needs. A recent study of Florida’s program has concluded that the program is helping to better diagnosis students with special needs.

As the number of special needs students increases we must turn to new methods of funding to provide the best chance for these students to receive an appropriate education, leading them to become productive members of our society. Government entities, both state and local, are not going to be able to keep up with the increased demand for funding that these students will require. Reform minded methods, like scholarship tax credit programs, are going to be the only way to see that these children are not left behind.

Bryce’s condition forced Scharnhorst to experience first-hand the hopeless lack of options that millions of parents face in regards to the education of their special needs child. Though in a high-preforming school district, Bryce was not making any progress. It was only after transferring to a very costly specialized learning center that inspiring growth was finally achieved. “When you see communication in an autistic child–taking instruction and paying attention–you know you found education.”

For this reason, Scharnhorst continues to re-fill Bryce’s Law. “With autism there is no tomorrow, there is only now. Bryce’s Law is my focus. No piece of legislation is more important or deserved than Bryce’s Law.” The creation of the Missouri Special Needs Tax Credit Program will brighten the future of approximately 130,000 children currently enrolled in public school special education that were previously left in the dark.

“You have to look inside your heart. These children need us.”

Visit www.bryceslaw.org for more information.