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Ray Carter | April 29, 2025
‘Lindsey Nicole Henry saved my daughter’s life’: Lawmakers vote to ease access to scholarships
Ray Carter
By an overwhelming margin, members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives have voted to remove a bureaucratic barrier that impedes access to a state scholarship program for children with special needs.
“These are dollars that the state of Oklahoma has designated to the education of these students,” said state Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid. “And so what we have now is we have two systems. The state of Oklahoma has said if you are a family with a traditional student, you can access those dollars from day one. If you are a family with a special-needs student, we have a whole different set of bureaucratic hurdles for you to jump through to access the funds that we’ve designated for you. That just doesn’t seem fundamentally fair or right to me.”
Since 2010, Oklahoma’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities (LNH) program has allowed students to use state tax dollars to pay for private-school tuition. Those eligible are primarily children with special needs, such as autism. The scholarships range from $4,196 to $22,236 per child, based on a child’s diagnosis.
However, children cannot currently receive an LNH scholarship until they have been in the public-school system for at least one year.
In contrast, the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program immediately provides refundable tax credits of $5,000 to $7,500 per child to cover the cost of private school tuition with the largest credits going to those with the lowest income.
Senate Bill 105, by state Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, and Caldwell, eliminates the one-year requirement for Oklahoma children to receive an LNH scholarship.
The bill was amended to require an annual meeting between LNH parents and private-school officials to discuss a child’s academic progress and the services needed by the child.
Caldwell said it should not matter where a child is educated, but whether the child receives the best education possible.
“Let’s quit worrying about the name on the outside of the building,” Caldwell said, “and let’s just focus instead on the students inside.”
But opponents disagreed.
State Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa, noted that he is the product of a private K-12 education, and conceded that some private schools “do provide excellent services” to children with special needs. But he opposed SB 105 anyway.
“Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Lindsey Nicole Henry saved my daughter’s life and changed the trajectory of my son’s.” —Oklahoma parent of an LNH scholarship recipient
Waldron said most parents of children with special needs are satisfied with the services offered at their local public school.
“We tend to hear from those that are dissatisfied and not those who are satisfied with the system,” Waldron said.
The Tulsa Democrat also said the number of LNH beneficiaries will increase if SB 105 becomes law, saying families who previously chose not to waste a year in public school and instead paid private-school tuition entirely out of pocket will now apply for an LNH scholarship.
Several opponents complained that money for LNH scholarships comes “off the top” of state funding provided to public schools, suggesting that harms all other students.
However, the amount of money provided for LNH scholarships since the program’s creation pales compared to total funding for Oklahoma public schools. It’s estimated that about $70 million in LNH scholarships have been provided, combined, from 2011 to the 2023-2024 school year. The total funding provided to public schools from all sources—state, federal, and local—has been more than $90 billion combined during that time.
That means for every $100 provided to public schools since the creation of the LNH program, seven pennies have gone to LNH scholarships.
State Rep. Ellyn Hefner, D-Oklahoma City, noted her youngest son has special needs. When the boy reached high school, Hefner worked with private-school officials to launch a program that serves those with intellectual developmental disabilities, and her son spent his high school years in a private Catholic school.
She recalled the process of applying not only for private-school admission for her youngest son, but also for assistance.
“There were so many things that we had to do to get LNH,” Hefner said.
Despite praising the LNH program, Hefner said she opposed SB 105 because she believed the evaluation provided during the first year of public school is beneficial.
Supporters countered with many stories from Oklahoma families who found the one-year delay harmed their children.
“I received an email from a family,” Caldwell said. “They adopted a little boy. That boy had special needs. And so they went to their local public-school district and they sat down with the district leader and they said, ‘Here’s our son. Here’s what he needs.’ And the district, through no fault or malice—I appreciated the honesty, as I’m sure the parent did as well—they said, ‘Look, we are not equipped to adequately meet the needs of your son.’”
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said a constituent who worked in public schools is among those who support SB 105.
“He was frustrated because his grandson was unable to go directly to a private school that was specifically catered for his grandson’s needs as a special-needs child,” Hilbert said. “And so, because of the way the statutes are currently structured, his grandson had to go to a public school for a year that was not near as specifically for that child’s needs.”
For every $100 provided to Oklahoma public schools since the creation of the LNH program, seven pennies have gone to LNH scholarships.
State Rep. John Pfeiffer, R-Orlando, told lawmakers his brother suffered severe head injuries in a car accident when his sibling was three years old, long before the LNH program was created. Pfeiffer’s brother attended the local public school and eventually graduated in 2008, but Pfeiffer recalled his mother still worried the family could have done more.
“We put the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship in place to help families like ours help make those decisions for what’s best for their family,” Pfeiffer said.
State Rep. Dell Kerbs, R-Shawnee, said he has a daughter with special needs who had an IEP while in school. He urged lawmakers to put themselves in the shoes of parents who find their child has special needs and determine that the child would be best served in a private-school setting, only to be told to wait a year.
He also objected to critics who complained that parents can receive both an LNH scholarship and the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program. State law does not allow parents to receive any combination of LNH scholarship or tax credits greater than the cost of a child’s tuition, but critics nonetheless suggested some parents may try to game the system and effectively pocket excess funds.
“Some of my colleagues are trying to say that the parent is trying to do a money grab on the money, that we’re just in it for the money,” Kerbs said. “Well, I’ll be the first to tell you: If I had to give up all my money so that my child be a normal child, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d live in a tent. I’d live out here. I wouldn’t care, because I’d know my child is getting taken care of.”
Caldwell conveyed a similar message from an LNH parent, reading it aloud to lawmakers.
The parent’s message stated: “I would give up every cent of the Lindsey Nicole Henry (scholarship) along with everything I have for my daughter not to have written a suicide note and to not have a disability that involves her taking 11 medications a day to keep her seizures and migraines at bay. I would give up everything I have to not have a son who needed nine surgeries in his first two years of life, and to have been taught how to read. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Lindsey Nicole Henry saved my daughter’s life and changed the trajectory of my son’s.”
SB 105 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a 70-23 vote. State Rep. Ajay Pittman, D-Oklahoma City, joined Republicans in support.
The legislation now returns to the Oklahoma Senate for consideration of House amendments. The bill previously passed that chamber on a 35-10 vote.
Director, Center for Independent Journalism
Ray Carter is the director of OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism. He has two decades of experience in journalism and communications. He previously served as senior Capitol reporter for The Journal Record, media director for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and chief editorial writer at The Oklahoman. As a reporter for The Journal Record, Carter received 12 Carl Rogan Awards in four years—including awards for investigative reporting, general news reporting, feature writing, spot news reporting, business reporting, and sports reporting. While at The Oklahoman, he was the recipient of several awards, including first place in the editorial writing category of the Associated Press/Oklahoma News Executives Carl Rogan Memorial News Excellence Competition for an editorial on the history of racism in the Oklahoma legislature.
Ray Carter is the director of OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism. He has two decades of experience in journalism and communications. He previously served as senior Capitol reporter for The Journal Record, media director for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and chief editorial writer at The Oklahoman. As a reporter for The Journal Record, Carter received 12 Carl Rogan Awards in four years—including awards for investigative reporting, general news reporting, feature writing, spot news reporting, business reporting, and sports reporting. While at The Oklahoman, he was the recipient of several awards, including first place in the editorial writing category of the Associated Press/Oklahoma News Executives Carl Rogan Memorial News Excellence Competition for an editorial on the history of racism in the Oklahoma legislature.
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