Parents of special needs students in the Atlanta Schools rejoiced this past week when Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship bill. Formerly known as Senate Bill 10, the proposed voucher plan has been watched closely by parents and educators in Atlanta Schools.
The law will use state funds to offer vouchers to parents of children with special needs in order to provide them with more appropriate school options. Atlanta Schools teacher, and parent of a child with autism, Linda Bryant Butler expressed her pleasure in a recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, parents like me are ecstatic that we will now have a choice. If one school doesnt work for Xavier during his 12-year academic career, I know he wont be trapped. He will have the choice to seek a better education elsewhere, she said.
Parents in Atlanta Schools and throughout the state will have the option of using vouchers to attend a different public school or a private school. In order for a child to be eligible, he or she must have a documented developmental disability (such as Autism or Tourettes Syndrome) and have attended public school for at least one...