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A proposal to allow special-needs students to attend private schools at taxpayer expense is being revived, the latest effort by Republicans in the Legislature to give parents more options outside traditional public schools.

The proposal is a revamped version of a measure that failed in Gov. Scott Walker's 2013-'15 budget.

That measure would have allowed 5% of students with disabilities to attend schools outside their home districts with the help of a taxpayer-funded voucher. As part of a broader compromise, the portion on students with disabilities was dropped in favor of a limited expansion of private school vouchers statewide.

The revived Wisconsin Special Needs Scholarship bill is scheduled to be introduced Tuesday by state Sens. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) and Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Reps. John Jagler (R-Watertown) and Dean Knudson (R-Hudson).

The primary concern of those who oppose special-needs vouchers is that private schools are not obligated to follow federal disability laws. They point to examples in other states where — in their eyes — underqualified operators have declared themselves experts, opened schools and started tapping taxpayer money.

The operators of a private voucher school in Milwaukee that abruptly closed last month after receiving $2 million in taxpayer money are now operating a private school in Florida — bolstered by taxpayer funds from that state's special-needs voucher program.

Only seven children are enrolled in the school, and only two are getting taxpayer money, but it's the kind of toehold that worries public-school advocates.

The spirit of the new proposal has revived tensions between familiar foes: Republicans and school-choice advocates who support the bill vs. the state's primary disability rights group and teachers unions that oppose it.

Supporters of the bill believe taxpayer-funded subsidies would allow parents to pursue an education better-suited for their special-needs child, potentially at a private school.

Opponents believe the proposal is another attempt by conservatives to siphon more funding into the private sector. They believe the most complete services for special-needs students are in the public schools.

"It's a battering ram at the public schoolhouse doors," Christina Brey, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the largest state teachers union, said Monday.

"The idea that we'll continue to see rewrites on legislation that has been dismissed shows a lack of respect for the will of the parents of special-needs children" who opposed the measure the first time it was introduced, Brey added.

Accountability issues

The revamped bill is likely to require that students first fail to get a public school placement outside their district through the state's open enrollment program before they are eligible for a special-needs voucher they could use in a private school.

But Lisa Pugh, the director of Disability Rights Wisconsin, said parents of children with special needs routinely get denied through open enrollment because districts often have limited open enrollment seats, and even more limited special-education resources.

Pugh said her group is working with the state to improve the open enrollment process for special-needs families. But, she said, placing special needs students in private schools is not the answer.

"We haven't seen support for real accountability in the private school sector that would ensure that students with disabilities would be protected," Pugh said Monday.

There has been a bill in the works for months that would place more accountability measures on the private schools that receive public dollars, but it has not yet been introduced.

In the meantime, private schools do not have to employ certified special education teachers, and they are not subject to the same mandates as public schools under the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

Then there's LifeSkills Academy.

The private school participated in the longstanding Milwaukee Parental Choice Program before abruptly closing its doors in December and forcing children to find a new school midyear. Virtually no children there were proficient in reading or math, according to the past two years of state test scores.

But operators Taron and Rodney Monroe opened a new private school in Florida, LifeSkills Academy II, and got approved to accept taxpayer money for students through the state's special-needs voucher program.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Education confirmed that the school in Daytona Beach had received about $2,700 so far this year for students participating in the state's special-needs voucher program.

Though it's a small amount of public money, critics following the story from Wisconsin were aghast.

"The idea of such a school simply declaring (itself an) expert in special education should send shivers down the spine of every parent of a student with disability-related educational needs," said Joanne Juhnke, a Madison parent and the chair of a grass-roots group called Stop Special Needs Vouchers.

Florida and seven other states offer some kind of program for students with disabilities to attend private schools with public funding.

Supporters of special-needs vouchers, also called special-needs scholarships, say it comes down to flexibility and more options.

They say public funding would help schools receiving special-needs children — especially if they are private schools — have the resources necessary to serve the child adequately.

The American Federation for Children, a national school choice advocacy group, has said the proposal in Wisconsin would give the parents of children with special needs more choices to find the best fit for their child.

Jagler has a daughter with Down syndrome and said last year when the idea was first floated that most parents of special-needs children, including himself, are comfortable with services in the local public schools.

"But the school exerts control in the educational setting, and if they don't go forward with what's expected of them, or if you can't get the right teachers, a lot of times parents are stuck," he said at the time.

Knudson said Monday that the latest bill is more "narrowly tailored" than the previous proposal to help the small population of families who don't feel their children are getting the best services in public schools.

"We started from scratch and really tried to address the concerns we'd heard over the years," he said.