McKay Scholarship

[Guest guest]

Hello to all,

I live in NJ but I am from Florida, my family still lives here and we are

considering relocated back to my home town. I am not sure if I am understanding

how the scholarship works. From what I can tell, you receive funds equivalent

to the tuition at their home (public) school, then you can apply those funds

towards tuition at another public or private school. If that is correct, are

you then responsible for the remaining balance? Does the scholarship money also

have to go towards PT, OT and Speech or will the district agree to pay for that

separately? How much do parents generally receive in scholarship funds?

One of the reasons I am hesitant to move is that our district pays for his

private school, his RDI therapy, his social skills group, PT, OT and Speech. I

don't want to convey that it is easy to get services as all of our districts

(which are run by the individual town as opposed to the county) will fight with

parents every year to keep the kids in the public program-especially with the

budget cuts. So year after year its a battle. While I agree with LRE, the

problem is I have yet to observe a district program that was effective. How are

the public programs in Florida? My little guy is 8 and is considered high

functioning (which I hate that term). Although he has language he doesn't

function well at all socially.

Last question, if you have a problem with getting services, is the protocol the

same in that you would go to mediation then due process- do the parents have any

recourse or are you stuck with whatever decision is made? Thanks so much.

Diane (from Sunrise)

[Guest guest]

Florida is one of the worst all around for servicesSent via BlackBerry by AT&TSender: sList Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:25:03 -0000To: <sList >ReplyTo: sList Subject: McKay Scholarship Hello to all, I live in NJ but I am from Florida, my family still lives here and we are considering relocated back to my home town. I am not sure if I am understanding how the scholarship works. From what I can tell, you receive funds equivalent to the tuition at their home (public) school, then you can apply those funds towards tuition at another public or private school. If that is correct, are you then responsible for the remaining balance? Does the scholarship money also have to go towards PT, OT and Speech or will the district agree to pay for that separately? How much do parents generally receive in scholarship funds? One of the reasons I am hesitant to move is that our district pays for his private school, his RDI therapy, his social skills group, PT, OT and Speech. I don't want to convey that it is easy to get services as all of our districts (which are run by the individual town as opposed to the county) will fight with parents every year to keep the kids in the public program-especially with the budget cuts. So year after year its a battle. While I agree with LRE, the problem is I have yet to observe a district program that was effective. How are the public programs in Florida? My little guy is 8 and is considered high functioning (which I hate that term). Although he has language he doesn't function well at all socially. Last question, if you have a problem with getting services, is the protocol the same in that you would go to mediation then due process- do the parents have any recourse or are you stuck with whatever decision is made? Thanks so much. Diane (from Sunrise)