I agree with you 100%--vouchers would be a huge benefit to parents such as yourselves with special needs children. Resource teachers are stretched to the max because these days, if a child is not performing, then it MUST be a learning disability (couldn't possibly be just maturity or lack of effort!). I have been at this for a long time and I have never seen so many kids who have been labled with LDs. As a result, students with real serious needs do not get the attention they require/deserve from PSchools. It's a shame.
What makes me furious is that there are lots of kids who are performing way below grade level. These kids do not have a disability. They have parents that don't speak English because they come here illegally from Mexico or they are poor and qualify for Title 1 funding help.
My daughter has severe brain damage, and the district will not provide a research-based multi-sensory reading program for her. The reading program that we are going to pay for only cost $1440 for the entire year. It's not like it is a program that cost $50,000.
I might add that the parents of the kids who are getting help do not pay taxes, and my husband and I pay tons of taxes. In fact, if we could get credit on our taxes for my daughters education then we could easily afford private school.