Disability advocates are challenging school choice programs, which typically give families a voucher to be applied to private school tuition, speaking out against the potential harm to students with disabilities. Disability advocacy groups played an important part in defeating voucher measures on the ballot in Nebraska, Kentucky and Colorado in November, siding with teachers’ unions and pro-public school education groups.
Support for disabled students and public schools cuts across party lines and is a formidable force in opposing vouchers, said Jessica Levin, litigation director at the Education Law Center, which advocates for public education. In Kentucky, a ballot measure to allow vouchers lost roughly 65% to 35% — the inverse of Donald Trump’s margin of victory in the state.
“We all know and love people in our lives who have disabilities. So that’s an issue that a lot of people can understand,” said Levin. “Also, a lot of people are very familiar with the way that our public schools support students with disabilities and their parents.”
School vouchers are state- or city-funded payments for students to attend private schools or religious institutions, rather than public schools. Vouchers are hotly debated, with a complex history tied to racial segregation, but supporters say these programs let parents choose how their kids are taught and expand access to private education for lower-income families.
Critics argue that vouchers and similar school choice policies, like educational savings accounts (ESAs) and tax credit programs, siphon funds from public schools, which may already be underfunded. ESAs put money into state-managed accounts rather than directly into schools and can be used for extracurriculars like tutoring and therapy, while tax credit scholarships are funded by donors who receive tax benefits by giving money to these programs.
Dr. Anna Ruderman, who treats students with disabilities, has been a vocal opponent of vouchers, writing an op-ed against them in the Charlotte Observer and lobbying local politicians in North Carolina. She says her own nephew, who has a disability, saw special education funding in his county cut when vouchers rolled out there in 2023 before going statewide.
“I’ve had patients who have been sent home from school because there’s not a nurse available that day to be able to do a feed or catheter or whatever it is they need help with,” said Ruderman. “They can’t go back to school until they find a specific person with a specific kind of training, and they can’t fill the positions because they’re underpaid.”
Disability advocates say disabled students do not benefit from vouchers because private schools are not required to meet their needs. If a disabled student enrolled in a private school, they would lose rights guaranteed in public schools, such as their right to special education with individual plans tailored to their needs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). They would also lose protection from discrimination based on disability derived from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as that protection applies only to federally funded programs.
In addition such students would not have a right to accommodations from the Americans with Disabilities Act such as ramps, interpreters and modified restrooms if they attended a religious school. Religious institutions don’t have to comply with the ADA, as “any religious entity” is exempt from regulations.
Many parents are also unaware of these limitations in their kids’ rights, said Colleen Potts, supervising attorney for the education team at Disability Rights Texas. According to a 2017 Government Accountability Office report, 83% of students in programs for those with disabilities received either inaccurate information about rights changes or none at all.
“I think our biggest concern is just to be sure that parents understand what they’re waiving … and just to be sure that they’re making an informed decision,” said Potts.
Advocates also say many of these private schools are ill equipped to provide learning and services for disabled students, especially for those with more complex needs. As a result, parents are forced to withdraw their kids from the school and, in some cases, even asked to leave. If the students’ public schooling is also inadequate, this could create a no-win situation.
“There’s a common story of taking a voucher [and] putting your child in a private school, including private schools for students with disabilities,” said Levin of the Education Law Center. “They’re not getting served well, they fall behind, and they go back to public school — but they’re behind.”
The fight over vouchers goes on as more states try to get school choice policies passed. It will continue to be a hot-button issue in Texas in 2025, said Potts, since Gov. Greg Abbott is poised to push school choice and also boost funding for public schools. This comes as the state is seeing public school spending outpace funding and a growing population of students in special education.
Laura Colangelo, executive director of the Texas Private Schools Association, said she supports public schools as well as school choice through ESAs. She said increased public school funding and ESAs can coexist, and school choice channeled through trusted private institutions can give customized, intensive learning experiences that disabled students might not get at a public school.
Colangelo hopes that both sides of the debate can “put down [their] swords and focus again on the kids.”
“I’m hearing from families that it just changes their child’s life, especially those with reading [disabilities] or autism,” said Colangelo. “You can separate and go into a special school for a year or two, get caught up and develop those skills you need to reenter the classroom and then go right back into a public school.”
Voucher programs have seen mixed results in other states. Although private schools have been very successful at increasing enrollment in Florida, many public schools in the state are under threat of closure due to enrollment declines.
In the face of anti-voucher efforts, school choice policies have nevertheless passed in recent years in states including Wyoming, Missouri, Georgia and Nebraska.
“They’re winning if you’re just looking at the number of bills passed,” said Dr. Joshua Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University who has written extensively on school vouchers. “The other trend is that voters, when given a direct choice, oppose these things. Vouchers have never won a statewide ballot initiative on election day.”
Cowen says voucher legislation is being passed despite popular opposition because of a concentrated effort from wealthy groups who back and lobby for them, notably former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has crusaded for school choice for decades. DeVos has said she wants to use America’s schools to “advance God’s kingdom.”
Conservative institutions such as the Heritage Foundation also push for education choice to combat what they call “woke” ideas, like critical race theory and gender studies.
Neither DeVos nor the Heritage Foundation’s education choice team responded to requests for comment.
School choice supporters are also trying to unseat candidates, both Democrat and Republican, who are public school advocates, Cowen said. They’re also taking to unexplored territory, targeting states without ongoing school choice programs.
As the battle over vouchers rages on, disability advocates continue to fight back. Disability Rights Texas is involved with campus leaders and parents to spread awareness while having policy experts at the Capitol to remind lawmakers of potential harm. Disability advocates in Montana joined the Montana Quality Education Association in a lawsuit filed in October to prevent implementation of a new voucher law. And Dr. Ruderman continues to support her patients.
“We need to hold people accountable,” said Ruderman. “Holding our elected officials accountable and saying, ‘Hey, you voted for this … either you realize it was wrong and you change it and you figure something else out, or we vote in somebody new.’”
