The application deadline for the state\u2019s new school voucher program closes tomorrow, leaving some parents scrambling to meet key requirements.<\/p>\n
As families rush to apply, some are learning the program prioritizes students with disabilities \u2014 but only if they can provide documentation proving that need.<\/p>\n
Under the program, qualifying students can receive about $10,000 to attend private school. Students with disabilities may qualify for up to $20,000 more, but there\u2019s a catch.<\/p>\n
To receive the additional funding, students must undergo a disability evaluation through their current school district \u2014 a process that can take hours spread across several days, making it difficult for some families to complete in time.<\/p>\n
Advocates say that could leave some parents missing out.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeems like they\u2019re finding out that for this time around, they\u2019re not going to get any money past the ten thousand dollars because they didn\u2019t know they had to have a current IEP that quickly,\u201d said Linda Litzinger, advocacy director for Texas Parent to Parent.<\/p>\n
Special education experts say the timeline has been challenging, especially for families who recently changed their child\u2019s education setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hurting the most the kids whose IEPs are three years old, who maybe left school and homeschooled a while. This is really serious for military families who just moved here from another state,\u201d Litzinger said.<\/p>\n
Litzinger said this first year of the program has been a learning curve for both families and state leaders, particularly when it comes to unintended consequences.<\/p>\n
While the program is designed to give families more educational options, she said improvements are needed \u2014 especially clearer guidance for parents on what documentation is required before applying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The application deadline for the state\u2019s new school voucher program closes tomorrow, leaving some parents scrambling to meet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[81597,4663,5189,81596,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-207959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-linda-litzinger","tag-parents","tag-school-voucher-program","tag-students-with-disabilities","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}