Proposed Oklahoma law would force disabled children out of public schools

Yahoo

18-04-2025

Public education in Oklahoma has been in decline since 2011 — the same year the state reached its highest national education ranking at No. 17. That was the year Mary Fallin took office as governor. What followed was a decade of budget cuts, teacher shortages and a growing legislative push to divert public funds toward private school vouchers under the banner of 'parent choice.'
Few have championed that agenda more aggressively than Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville. Her support for defunding public education isn't just visible in her legislation — it's unmistakable in her own words, particularly in her defense of Senate Bill 105, which removes the one-year public school requirement for students with disabilities seeking a Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship. In an email, Daniels said: 'Taking it out hurts no public school but helps special needs students access the best school for them without wasting a year of their education.'
According to Sen. Daniels, a year in Oklahoma public schools for a student with a disability is a waste. That single sentence lays bare the dangerous foundation of SB 105, and the deeply flawed logic behind her attempt to dismantle a system that exists to protect our most vulnerable learners.
In that 'wasted' year, a child in public school is evaluated by a multidisciplinary team under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. If eligible, the student is given an Individualized Education Program that outlines measurable goals, supports and services—all designed by experts, including special education teachers, school psychologists, therapists and administrators.
The student might receive reading interventions, speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, transportation or behavior support. Student progress is tracked and sent to parents commensurate with report cards. Services are documented. Parents are informed and protected. All of this falls under the legal guarantee of a Free Appropriate Public Education —a cornerstone of public education, grounded in federal law.
These supports don't exist in a vacuum. They are monitored and held accountable by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. They are enforced by due process. They are built around one mission: to help children learn, grow and achieve independence. For students with disabilities, the ability to read, communicate and self-advocate isn't just academic — it is a lifeline.
And yet, Sen. Daniels believes that this system, with all its safeguards, is expendable. She wants to reroute public dollars into private schools that offer none of the above — no individualized education programs, no certified staff, no documentation of progress, and no Education Department oversight. So what, then, does Sen. Daniels consider evidence of success? 'The measure of success is the very many happy families who have finally found a place for their child," she says.
That's it. Happiness. Millions of taxpayer dollars are spent on outcomes measured by happiness. Sen. Daniels intends to try and increase access to private school funding so that even more money is spent on happiness.
Since when did we fund education based on feelings rather than facts? Since when did anecdotal satisfaction replace reading scores, graduation data and independence skills? Public schools must answer to state and federal law. Private schools accepting Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship funds answer to no one. And somehow, Sen. Daniels sees 'happy families' as a better indicator of success than whether a child can read.
That's not just bad policy — it's dangerous. And it's a strange hill for a self-described conservative to die on: promoting an emotionally driven, accountability-free program as a replacement for a federally protected educational system built on data and outcomes. For children with disabilities, the stakes are too high to experiment with feel-good legislation.
Our students deserve progress, not platitudes.
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Jared S. Gleaton is an Oklahoma school psychologist and food critic. He is the author of "A Feast for the Senses: The Psychological Art of Eating Well."
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: This bill would move disabled students out of public schools | Opinion