Vouchers going begging

Parents have received more than $1 million in government aid to send children with disabilities to private schools under the state's premiere education voucher program, the State Office of Education reports.

Parents say the scholarships, for which they fought for two years, are an answer to their prayers.

But at the same time, public schools are shouldering a $600,000 budget cut because fewer children participated in the program than estimated.

A handful of districts contacted Tuesday can't pinpoint exactly how the cuts have affected them. But they say they struggle to meet growing special education needs with already tight budgets and need every dollar they can get.

"We're just trying to keep a smile on our face and do what's right and work hard on that," said J. Lynn Jones, director of special education and federal programs in Nebo District. "We sure hope that with extra money in the (state schools) budget, (we) will see more come back to us and help us out."

Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarships, named after a boy attending the $23,000-a-year Carmen B. Pingree School for Children With Autism, are aimed at helping parents choose the schools that best fit their children's needs.

Lawmakers gave $2.6 million for this year's scholarships, plus $1.4 million in retroactive scholarships. The money came from general, and not school, funds. People have to use them or lose them. And most of them have been, or will be, lost.

Of the $1.4 million in the retroactive scholarship fund, about $305,000 is expected to go out in scholarships.

In current-year scholarships, $640,100 of $2.6 million is expected to find its way to parents, with another $100,000 going to program administration.

That leaves about $3 million unspent, the State Office of Education reports.

In all, the state has awarded 128 current-year scholarships of varying amounts — the ceiling is just over $5,500. Ten more are expected to be approved, said Larry Shumway, who is overseeing the program at the State Office of Education. Another 78 retroactive scholarships were approved, some to the same people, he said.

Forty-three applications were denied, Shumway said, often because children were not public school age, or not eligible for special education, or because the schools they wanted to attend didn't meet state eligibility requirements (a sore spot among advocates, who disagree with the criteria the state school board created).

There's little chance more scholarships will go out this school year.