Members of the House Common Education Committee have voted to simplify the process for children with special needs to access a state scholarship program.

Since 2010, Oklahoma’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities (LNH) program has allowed students to use state tax dollars to pay for private-school tuition. Those eligible for the program are primarily children with special needs, such as autism.

The scholarships range from $4,196 to $22,236 per child, based on a child’s diagnosis.

However, children cannot currently receive an LNH scholarship until they have been in the public-school system for at least one year, even when a local school cannot properly serve a child and parents have identified a private school that can.

Senate Bill 105, by state Sen. Julie Daniels and state Rep. Chad Caldwell, eliminates the one-year requirement.

Caldwell noted there is no similar one-year requirement imposed on families accessing other state school-choice programs, and that in some cases officials at a local public school have told parents the school cannot provide needed services to their child.

“We’re only asking families with special needs to jump through this hoop,” said Caldwell, R-Enid. “And that, just to me, it just seems wrong. Let’s just level the playing field and let’s treat our special-needs kids as good as we treat our traditional kids.”

State Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, an Oklahoma City Democrat who previously worked as a political organizing specialist for the Oklahoma Education Association, suggested the LNH program should involve more red tape, not less.

“Do we have accountability and oversight for these students in the private schools?” Pogemiller asked.

“We have exponentially better accountability in our private schools than we do in our public schools because, unlike in our public schools, in a private school if they’re not meeting the needs of a student and that parent leaves then that school loses 100 percent of the funding,” Caldwell responded, “which is completely different than the system we have in our public schools.”

He also noted that the LNH program has educated children at a much lower average cost than what would be spent in the public-school system.

“The average amount of a scholarship through Lindsey Nicole Henry is significantly less than what the average per-pupil spending is for our public schools,” Caldwell said.

In the 2023-2024 school year, the most recent for which data are available, the LNH program provided $12.2 million in scholarships to 1,557 students for an average LNH scholarship of $7,866 per student.

That’s substantially less than the average per-pupil revenue provided for all public-school students.

According to financial data reported by schools to the state’s Oklahoma Cost Accounting System (OCAS), per-pupil revenue in Oklahoma public schools reached $9,600,703,488 in new revenue in the 2023-2024 school year. Since student enrollment was 698,923 that year, that comes out to an average of $13,736 per pupil.

State Rep. Danny Sterling, a Tecumseh Republican who previously worked as a school administrator, suggested some parents would use the program for personal enrichment.

“From my previous experience—unfortunately, sadly—I can sit here and name four or five parents that would look at this as a way to bank some money off their kids,” Sterling said.

Caldwell noted the scholarship is directed to the school, not the parent.

“It is an impossibility for the parent to pocket the funds,” Caldwell said. “Those funds will go to the school for the benefit of the student.”

State Rep. Cody Maynard, R-Durant, said he had been contacted by many families that have benefited from the LNH program.

“Would you believe that I have not had a single one of those parents tell me how this program did not work or was not beneficial for their kid?” Maynard said. “All of them were very thankful for the help to get their child the proper education that they needed.”

State Rep. Chris Banning, R-Bixby, noted the opponents of SB 105 did not focus on the key issue in education—serving children.

“Would you believe that not a single email that I’ve read that asked me to vote ‘no’ on Senate Bill 105 mentions the betterment of the kid?” Banning said.

SB 105 passed the House Common Education Committee on a 6-5 vote. The bill previously passed out of the Oklahoma Senate on a 35-10 vote.