Vouchers for Special Education Students: An Evaluation of Florida's McKay Scholarship Program. Civic Report.

This paper reports on an evaluation of Florida's McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities, which makes a school voucher available to any special education student. The program currently serves 9,202 students out of 375,000 eligible special education students. Based on two telephone surveys (one of parents currently using a McKay voucher and the other of parents who previously used a voucher but no longer do) the study found that parents in both groups are much more satisfied with their experiences in private McKay schools than in the public schools. Highlights include: 92.7% of current McKay participants are very satisfied with their schools; participants saw class size drop from an average of 25 students to 13 students per class; participating students were victimized far less by other students because of their disabilities; more than 70% of parents report paying either nothing or less than $1,000 per year above the voucher; and 90% of parents who have left the program believe the program should continue. The report details the study's method and reports results concerning parental satisfaction, class size, services provided, Individual Education Plans, behavior problems, problems with other students, tuition and fees above the scholarship, demographics, difficulty finding an acceptable school, transportation, and whether the McKay Program should continue. Detailed results and the survey questionnaire are appended. (Contains 20 references.) (DB)