Greitens pushing school choice for special needs students

(AP) — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens didn't explicitly mention school choice in his State of the State address, but he did call for education savings accounts for students with special needs — a measure that lawmakers and school choice advocates say could open the door to broader choice measures.

Sen. Ed Emery of Lamar has filed legislation to create education savings accounts for students with disabilities such as autism, developmental delays, learning disabilities and hearing or speech impairments.

The accounts, which transfer state dollars to parents through a bank account, can be used for educational costs including private school tuition, online class tuition or fees, textbooks, tutoring, therapy, and standardized tests, including the ACT and SAT.

Brent Ghan, deputy executive director for the Missouri School Boards' Association, said his organization opposes the savings accounts because they use public money to pay for private school tuition.

[...] Nevada's savings account program was suspended last year after the state Supreme Court said Nevada could not take money out of public school allocations to fund the program.