Vouchers for Special Education Students: An Evaluation of Florida’s McKay Scholarship Program

The McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities makes a school voucher available to any special education student in Florida public schools. This program is the second largest school voucher program in the country, and with approximately 375,000 eligible special education students it is likely to become the largest soon. Currently, 9,202 students use McKay vouchers.

This study is the first empirical evaluation of the McKay program’s performance. 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—this study shows that parents are much more satisfied with their experiences in private McKay schools than they were with their experiences in the public schools. This is true both for currently participating parents and for parents who have left the program.