NOT GIVING UP: Crystal Fox refuses to give up on her special needs children.
By Mary C. Tillotson | Watchdog.og
Crystal Fox’s three children, all with special needs, attend three different schools. For two of them, Arizona’s public schools weren’t working.
“We tried and tried the public school system,” Fox said of her son Austin, who has Asperger’s Syndrome. “In 10th grade, he was failing, and the teachers wouldn’t support him anymore. We couldn’t get resource support. Everything they tried to do was kind of a joke.”
Her daughter Tia is severely autistic. She didn’t have much trouble in preschool, but in kindergarten, things changed. She only stayed a few weeks.
“The teacher basically came out and said students as severe as Tia often don’t go to public schools,” Fox said. “I was devastated, and she never went back after that.”
Through a state school choice program that helps eligible families fund nonpublic education for their children, the Foxes found a better fit for Austin and Tia. Fox says they’ve improved substantially.
But a court battle may kill that program.
How it works
Arizona’s innovative Empowerment Scholarship channels public funds into an education savings account, or ESA. Parents can spend ESA funds on private school tuition, private tutoring, education therapy, curricula, or – if they save a portion – college.
Begun for special needs students in 2011, the Empowerment Scholarship expanded in 2012 to include foster children, active-duty military families and students in districts where schools are graded D or F. In 2013, these students would become eligible in kindergarten, eliminating a provision that required students to spend at least one year in public schools.
Parents receive 90 percent of what the state would spend on the child’s education at a public school. That can range from $5,000 to $26,000, depending on the severity of the child’s disabilities.
The challenge
Public education groups claim the Arizona program violates the state’s constitution, which prohibits against directing any public money “in aid of any … private or sectarian school.”
In 2009, that line of argument killed the state’s school voucher program, in which the state paid private school tuition in lieu of funding the local public school for that student.
The court upheld a separate corporate tax credit program, in which companies receive tax credits for donating to an organization that awards scholarships to students. The money going to private school scholarships is not state money, so it’s permissible, the court ruled.
Reform opponents see little difference between education savings accounts and vouchers.
“This is window-dressing,” said Don Peters, an attorney representing the educational groups. “This is purely a way to funnel public money to private schools. That’s what it does. That’s what it’s designed to do, and all the stuff about it being a savings account is window-dressing and nothing else.”
But the public money is not directed “in aid of” private schools, said attorney Tim Keller, executive director of the Institute for Justice’s Arizona chapter, who is representing ESA supporters, including the Foxes.
“The dollars are not being appropriated to aid private schools, but to aid families and children and allow them to make the best decisions for their child’s education,” Keller said.
Arizonans are waiting to hear from the appeals court. Peters and Keller both said that whatever the ruling, the state’s Supreme Court is likely to hear the case.
Austin’s story
The opportunity provided by the education savings account changed Austin Fox’s perspective on education. He used to hate school.
“I would skip school just to have the free day,” the 17-year-old said.
He has Asperger’s Syndrome, and it was hard for him to learn in the large classes at his public school.
The Fox family toured private schools in the area, and Austin chose to attend Bios Christian Academy, even though the family doesn’t have a Christian affiliation. Bios has “basically a homeschool approach in a school setting,” Crystal Fox said, and the environment suited her son better.
Austin’s education savings account paid for tuition, which is substantially lower than the per-pupil cost of public schools. He’s saved $20,000 for college and attended a school that’s provided what he needs.
“I’m actually learning the material instead of just getting by,” he said. “The class sizes are much smaller, which is a big deal for me, and there’s a lot more one-on-one teacher attention.”
Austin has earned a 4.0 GPA and scored well on the ACT and SAT, hitting the 99th percentile in some subjects. His mother said she’s always known he was smart, and that was part of her frustration with the public school.
“You’re taking this highly gifted autistic child, who is probably going to do something amazing in his life, and you’re making him hate education, hate it. So this (new) school’s been able to turn that around,” she said. “It would have been such a shame to have him drop out of school, and that’s what happens to a lot of our kids.”
Austin said he hopes to study medicine, possibly working at the state hospital as a nurse practitioner.
“I think (the program) probably saved Austin’s life. I don’t know that he could have succeeded without it. He’s so smart, and it’d be such a shame to let these kids fall through the cracks, or possibly even go in a negative direction,” Crystal Fox said.
“He’s probably going to be an asset to the community in the future, instead of hating people, hating institutions, hating teachers.”
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