© 2024 KUAF
NPR Affiliate since 1985
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

More Arkansas Special Education Students are Attending Private Schools With State-Funded Vouchers

J. Froelich
/
KUAF
Executive Director, Misty Newcomb checks on students' work inside Prism Center for Education in Fayetteville.

The Arkansas Legislature in 2015 passed Act 1178 to provide school vouchers to qualifying students with disabilities to attend private school. The Arkansas Department of Education administers the program, with support from the Walton Family Foundation funded Reform Alliance in Little Rock. Since 2016 eight private schools in Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith region have been approved to accommodate Succeed Scholarship students, including Prism Education Center in Fayetteville.

Jacqueline Froelich is an investigative reporter and news producer for Ozarks at Large.