SUMMARY

The Special Needs Scholarship Program is administered by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and provides scholarships for students with disabilities in kindergarten through 12th grade who attend participating private schools. The 26 private schools that participated in the program received a total of $5.6 million in program scholarships during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. We surveyed the parents of all 306 participating students. Survey respondents indicated increased levels of satisfaction with participating private schools, compared to when their children had previously attended public schools. We recommend that DPI seek a statutory change that allows all funding provisions for the program to be followed.