▶ 0:15:35Chair Cassidy: The senate committee will please come to order. This committee is about the parents' perspective on finding the best educational option for a child, period, end of story. How do you help the parent, typically the mother, find the best education option for the child?
▶ 0:16:01Chair Cassidy: Because there's nothing, nothing, that a parent once more for their child than for that child to succeed and to realize their potential. And I can tell you from my own experience and I think the experience of others, that beyond a parent and a grandparent, teachers have the greatest impact on a child's future. Education is powerful. It can inspire, can sharpen, can lift an entire generation's out of poverty.
▶ 0:16:32Chair Cassidy: One person does well, their children, grandchildren -- it just goes. That is the power of education. It opens up opportunities that otherwise may never have. We speak of the american dream, education is the pathway to the american dream. The better education system, the better the education system, the better the future of our country. Charter schools are a critical part of that educational system.
▶ 0:17:00Chair Cassidy: They can tailor curriculums and teaching methods to an individual child's need. And every child is different. Unique talents, interests, styles, and skills. Unlike a traditional public school, charter schools are not restricted by bureaucratic red tape or zip codes, they can provide personalized learning which leads to better outcomes. By the way, there are great traditional schools with fantastic teachers.
▶ 0:17:26Chair Cassidy: I attended those schools and am blessed by them, and now I am a doctor because of public education. If a parent is pleased with their child's education, keep the child in the school where they are. But some thrive in conventional public schools but others struggle, and I think we will hear the story about maybe a child's struggle.
▶ 0:17:51Chair Cassidy: A parent recognizes a child's need not being admitted to school I think should have the power to find a school for that child with bet -- which better addresses their need. Trying something which is a unique prescription for that child. Hope mcdonald's child is dyslexic. Last month's round table, she shared that her daughter's public school refused to recognize dyslexia as a real disability.
▶ 0:18:20Chair Cassidy: So she sent her child to louisiana key academy, a charter school specifically for children with dyslexia. Full disclosure, my wife is the ceo of the board or whatever of the four charter schools for children with dyslexia, louisiana key academy, that hopes child attends. Just when many parents, hope and my wife are passionate about charter schools because they had to fight for the best education for a child with dyslexia.
▶ 0:18:52Chair Cassidy: Their own. Ohio's oakmont center is another trope -- charter school specializing in meeting at risk students where they are in order to help that child achieve the student's academic achievement. Other charter schools with skills and career focus, preparing a child for the workforce, alabama's aerospace and aviation school provides each student a customized flight plan, as they call it.
▶ 0:19:20Chair Cassidy: Hands-on experience to aviation apprenticeships, internships, ground school training. By the time some graduates from this charter school, they have worked alongside airplane mechanics, learned aircraft systems, and have been prepared for credentials like commercial pilot or a drone pilot license. It is easy to see why a parent would find this appealing.
▶ 0:19:46Chair Cassidy: Since 2003, charter school enrollment increased from 370%, from 700,000 to well past 3.3 million students nationwide. But charter schools are still under resourced. They often lack adequate facilities. My equitable access to school facilities act enables charter schools to access public properties to address a situation.
▶ 0:20:14Chair Cassidy: To ensure that a student learns in a quality facility and to acknowledge -- to acknowledge, that parents who pay taxes, sending their child to a public charter school maybe could have access to some of the public property not being used that they paid taxes to do but unfortunately are not having access to now.
▶ 0:20:38Chair Cassidy: The empowered charter school educators to lead act, which I co-lead, expands opportunities for charter schools, making it achievable for prospective charter schools to open. When it comes to the child's education, the parent should have the power. No one cares more than apparent that their child is well educated. Let's give that person who cares the most about a child's education the power to shape their educational future. With that, I see senator sanders's not here.
▶ 0:21:08Chair Cassidy: Will you have an opening statement? >> I do not think they let freshman senator's speak at this point, so why don't we just get started?
▶ 0:21:16Chair Cassidy: Only three of us here, man. You do what you want peer they told me you do karaoke, so perhaps you can do that. For the charter school case. Let me introduce the witnesses. We are joined by Ms. debbie vaughn, part of the founding committee for the lakes and bridges charter school and public elementary and middle school for dyslexic students in easley, south carolina.
▶ 0:21:42Chair Cassidy: She was integral to the 2016 change in south carolina law allowing charter schools to serve students with specific disabilities. I look forward to hearing from you, Ms. vaughn. Thank you for being here.
▶ 0:21:57Ms. Vaughn: It is a privilege to be here, and I am grateful to share my family's expense with charter schools. In 2015, family friend asked if I wanted to join a team of folks to start a charter school for kids with dyslexia. My then first grader had been struggling with reading and was not getting the support she needed an hour zone public school. So I do not hesitate to say yes.
▶ 0:22:22Ms. Vaughn: Our founding team of nine people spent nearly a year and a half preparing our charter application, and all of us will tell you that starting a charter school was the most difficult endeavor in which any of us had ever embarked. We were not interested in creating just any charter school.
▶ 0:22:37Ms. Vaughn: We wanted to create the best possible public charter school for kids with dyslexia, students frequently not served well in traditional public schools and who all too often fall through the cracks when it comes to identification, intervention, and enrichment. We also believe deeply that access matters. There are excellent private schools for kids with dyslexia, but dyslexia does not just affect families who can afford private school tuition.
▶ 0:23:05Ms. Vaughn: We wanted to create a public school to provide specialized instruction, regardless of income. As a part of this process, our team visited dyslexia focused schools across the southeast. We met with legislators, educators, traditional public school leaders, and community members to learn how they can best serve a special population. One piece of advice we received from Dr.
▶ 0:23:28Ms. Vaughn: Laura cassidy was especially important, find a way to prioritize enrollment for students with dyslexia who absolutely need this specialized education. South carolina charter schools designated as alternative education campuses, or aec's, can prioritize enrollment for specific populations appeared at the time, the law allowed for those to serve various groups of at risk students but no students with specific learning needs.
▶ 0:23:59Ms. Vaughn: Our team approached our state representative and asked if he would work to amend the law so that aec's could prioritize enrollment for students with a demonstrated need, specialized, multisensory education. Working alongside legislators in both the house and senate, that eminent became law, and it happened in three months.
▶ 0:24:21Ms. Vaughn: This is a remarkable example of what can happen when policymakers work together and recognize a genuine unmet need for their students and their families. Our charter was approved in 2017 and then begin our planning year filled with fundraising, grant writing, property searches, hiring, and everything else required to open up a school. Two poignant things happened during that planning year.
▶ 0:24:47Ms. Vaughn: First, because our property search took longer than expected, we partnered with the school district of pickens county and least classroom space and office space inside a public elementary school. That was for our first year of operation. Typically, charter schools and public schools do not play in the same sandbox, but we did, both literally and figuratively, and it worked. We made it work.
▶ 0:25:10Ms. Vaughn: That partnership allowed our school to open on time, and it also allowed us to serve students whom even the public school district acknowledged could be better served in a specialized environment. Second, and most impactful, we began to meet future lakes and bridges families. They were desperate for help because their dyslexic children had anxiety from -- and crumbling self-esteem because they had struggled for years without the right support.
▶ 0:25:39Ms. Vaughn: Intellectually, we knew a place like lakes and bridges was needed, but hearing their stories made the need deeply personal. Lakes and bridges opened in 2018. We serve 200 students in grades one through eight. My role as development director is part-time, but it is much needed because as a state charter school we do not receive any share of county tax or local taxes, and we cannot issue public bonds in order to help with the building of projects.
▶ 0:26:07Ms. Vaughn: As a charter school, we do have the autonomy to provide individualized instruction using the gillingham approach. We have had some great milestones this year, and I just want to talk about a few. Our middle school earned an excellent on the south carolina school report card. This is an extraordinary accomplishment given that 80% of our students have either an iep or 504 plan, and most of them entered our school at least one grade level behind academically.
▶ 0:26:36Ms. Vaughn: Our middle school students exceeded both district and state averages for growth in this years map assessment data showed that every grade level scored in the high-growth quadrant for reading from fall to spring, with some students even doubling or tripling their projected growth scores. For me, these accomplishments mean most as a parent. You see, three of my four children have dyslexia and are lakes and bridges dragons.
▶ 0:27:05Ms. Vaughn: My eldest is graduating from high school on saturday. When they finally received the intervention and enrichment that they needed, they absolutely blossomed. My husband and I could not have imagined how much the right school would change their lives, and it lifted up our whole family. My other child who does not have dyslexia attended a charter middle school called youth leadership academy.
▶ 0:27:29Ms. Vaughn: He needed a smaller environment where he could rebuild confidence and develop leadership skills after the destruction of covid. And well -- and they provided just that. His expanse reinforced for our family the different children thrive and different educational settings. Learning is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor, and schools should not be either. As a parent -- thank you.
▶ 0:28:04Chair Cassidy: Hang on. We are joined today by Ms. moranda jackson, a proud mom of seven. Her youngest two daughters proud graduates of geo, next-generation, high school in baton rouge. She is also a teacher assistant at geo prep middle city in baton rouge.
▶ 0:28:29Chair Cassidy: Yesterday, graduated with her associates degree from baton rouge community college, got on a plane, and came here. [applause] so, we look forward to hearing from you today. Thank you for being so committed to speaking to congress and to the american people that he would graduate and get on a plane to come here. Ms. jackson.
▶ 0:28:54Ms. Jackson: Good morning, and thank you for allowing me to be here today. My name is moranda jackson, and both of my daughters attended geo next generation high school and baton rouge, louisiana. Today, I have two of my beautiful daughters with me, and also the founder of geo, Mr. kevin teasley.
▶ 0:29:20Ms. Jackson: I wanted to share my experience with geo prep mid city and geo prep next generation high school and how it impacted not only my children's lives but my life, as well. When I moved to baton rouge, one of my biggest goals was to make sure that all of my children could attend the same school. Because we were new to the area and we needed stability. My children started off at geo prep mid city in 2017.
▶ 0:29:50Ms. Jackson: At the time, I had one child in the sixth grade, when in the seventh grade, and one in the eighth grade. My children progressed in the school and I began to see them truly xl. My daughter became one of the leading scorers on testing by eighth grade. Quentasia worked tarred and continued to thrive.
▶ 0:30:13Ms. Jackson: When we learned geo was launching its -- quentasia worked hard and continue to thrive. When we learned geo was launching a hud school, I will admit, I was terrified, it was scary -- launching a new high school, I will admit, I was terrified. It was scary. We did not know what to expect. My daughter after graduating from eighth grade, she took the placement test for baton rouge community college.
▶ 0:30:38Ms. Jackson: Through the geo program and score high enough to begin college courses before she even stepped into high school classroom. Over time, I watched both my daughters grow to love not only high school but also to a college experience that they were receiving at such a young age. Was everything always easy? No. There were challenges along the way, but every challenge was met with support.
▶ 0:31:07Ms. Jackson: The school made sure that the right people were in place to help the children succeed and that the support made all the difference. Today, both of my daughters graduated as valedictorians of the high school while earning their associates degree. When graduating with 83 college credits, the other 179 college credits. Both received valedictorian scholarships to xavier university in new orleans, louisiana.
▶ 0:31:38Ms. Jackson: One of my daughters graduated at the age of 20 with her bachelor's degree, and now she teaches math and science third grade. My other daughter is 19 and will be graduating in december of this year with her bachelor's degree, as well. Do I believe that they would have accomplished this if I would not have brought them to geo? Honestly, no, I don't. I watched two of my sons attend college through sports scholarships.
▶ 0:32:08Ms. Jackson: While I am extremely proud of them, I learned sports scholarships can sometimes feel uncertain because injuries can happen. And when they do, students can feel like they are a failure, their future is certainly at risk. What I appreciate most about geo was that they gave my daughters another pathway, one to build on academically, leadership, discipline, and opportunity.
▶ 0:32:37Ms. Jackson: After watching my children accomplish so much, I decided to go back to school myself. I had certifications, but I did not have a degree. They encouraged me and the environment around me inspired me to get better and more education. I completed my degree in july of 2025, but I officially walked the stage on yesterday.
▶ 0:33:03Ms. Jackson: This experience showed me that education does not just change one child's life, but it changed my entire family. Thank you again for allowing me this opportunity to speak and to share my story. Thank you. [applause]
▶ 0:33:28Chair Cassidy: Next -- introduced -- we even let freshman senators -- new lynn >> special day. Thank you, chairman. I want to introduce jennifer coco. Ms.
▶ 0:33:46Chair Cassidy: Coco's interim executive director at the center for learner equity, cle, responsible for designing policies, systemic initiatives to improve charter school readiness and capacity to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Ms. coco is an attorney, advocate who has spent the entirety of her career advancing access and opportunities for public school. She is also the parent of children with disabilities. Please.
▶ 0:34:13Ms. Coco: Thank you, senator kim, chairman, and members. Thank you. My name is jennifer coco, I leave the center for learner equity, a national nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that students with disabilities have access to high-quality public school choices. I spent nearly 20 years as an attorney and advocate for students with disabilities and as senator kim mentioned, I am now doing the work.
▶ 0:34:38Ms. Coco: My son receives preschool special education services from our district, and my daughter receives educational support through a 504 plan. Because they asked to watch this letter, hi, zora and lingston. We have not ensured charter schools can access the services and support they need to educate students with disabilities and help them succeed.
▶ 0:35:04Ms. Coco: About charter schools, it is important to remember, charter schools are public schools, full stop. They must comply with all federal education and disability laws. But what makes them different is that they enjoy increased autonomy and flexibility in exchange for a different level of oversight from their authorizers. Notably, about half of all charter schools in the U.S. are operating as their own local educational agency.
▶ 0:35:30Ms. Coco: Which means, as far as the idea is concerned, there was some all responsibilities of a district to meet the needs of all students who enroll. More than 8 million children in the united states are eligible for services under the idea, another one point 6 million receiving accommodations under section 504, which leaves us with a population of about 10 million children in america who were students with disabilities.
▶ 0:35:57Ms. Coco: Students with disabilities represent about 15 percent of students in traditional public schools, but 11.8 percent of students in charter schools. This enrollment gap has persisted since my organization began analyzing enrollment trends in 11 years ago. Charter schools intent to enroll fewer students with low incidence disabilities. Those are the students whose needs are the most complex.
▶ 0:36:23Ms. Coco: With the conversation about charter schools and students with disabilities, it is too often reduced to an unproductive binary, that charter schools want to educate kids with disabilities or not. We want to reject that framing. Because it is doing a disservice and missing the big point. It is overlooking the systemic barriers that are limiting and charter schools needs and implement the I.d.e.a. Three barriers, first is scale.
▶ 0:36:50Ms. Coco: Too many charter schools like the economies of scale to offer the full continuing of services that students with disabilities require. Two, staffing. In many places, charter schools, and struggle to compete for talent with the traditional district, particularly for special educators. Three, funding. Charters receive only 70 5% of the per-pupil funding of traditional public schools.
▶ 0:37:18Ms. Coco: These barriers are actually complications that arise from that charter autonomy when it means implementing the I.d.e.a., a law whose central implementation premise assumed that there would be a certain size and scope of a traditional district with multiple schools. Now, I want to be clear, these are not arguments against charter schools, which my organization works with all over the country.
▶ 0:37:42Ms. Coco: They are arguments for a system we have not yet designed, one that fully supports autonomous public schools and students with disabilities from the start, not as an afterthought. The good news is there are solutions for congress and policymakers that would strengthen charter school capacity and readiness to educate all kids, and I will share four. One, we should direct our energy and resources toward advancing charter school quality in equal measure to charter school growth.
▶ 0:38:10Ms. Coco: It is about both funding the charter school program but also about protecting investments in all k-12, title, and I.d.e.a. Programs, which the vast majority of charter schools receive and need. Second, you must balance charter autonomy with intentional capacity building. We must acquire evidence of charter communities product of planning and coordination to improve their readiness to educate all students with disabilities.
▶ 0:38:37Ms. Coco: Third, we must fully fund the I.d.e.a. Congress only contributes 10% of what was originally promised to states, which was 40%. This deeply affects charter schools around the country. Fourth, we must protect the federal infrastructure that supports I.d.e.a. Implementation and the charter school program. States need in entech department of education that is providing technical assistance -- in tact department of education providing assistance.
▶ 0:39:06Ms. Coco: In closing, I wish to bring us back to the students, their values, their potential, and our obligation to do everything we can to give them a bright future. The vast majority of students with disabilities can achieve a great level and forge a path to post secondary education, employment, and independence when we, the adults, ensure they receive individualized instruction and support.
▶ 0:39:28Ms. Coco: I encourage congress to do all you can to protect federal education programs and funding, which will strengthen and expand educational opportunities and choices. Thank you. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:39:43Chair Cassidy: I will defer to senator marshall and others to begin. >> thank you to our speakers. I will start with miss yvonne Ms. vaughn, speak to charter schools preparing students, if you could.
▶ 0:40:00Ms. Vaughn: I don't know that I am actually the best person to answer this question. My charter school experience is with an aec campus for kiss with dyslexia and only goes through grade eight. We are very focused on intervention and remediation, although our school does meet all of the state standards for stem subjects.
▶ 0:40:26Sen. Marshall: Miss jackson, do you do this in your schools?
▶ 0:40:33Ms. Jackson: We do have students that do stem, but I am not the best person to ask that either. I am just here for my experience with my students.
▶ 0:40:46Sen. Marshall: Ms. jackson, how do you measure success? What type of outcomes are you measuring? Any metrics or outcomes you are following?
▶ 0:40:55Ms. Jackson: I actually work at the geo campus, and I will say this, what I love about the teachers is that we have teachers that are passionate about students. And I heard Ms.
▶ 0:41:10Ms. Jackson: Coco say about having the right people in place when it comes to students that have the fios -- 504, iep, or are dyslexic, I will say that I have witnessed and watched how our children at our locations have been taught in school, because our students are so passionate, teachers and so passionate in making sure those students are getting what they need.
▶ 0:41:40Ms. Jackson: That is what my thing is about geo. When it comes to my students, they did not look past what it came from, they met them where they were. That is the thing, meeting children where they are at and bringing them further along.
▶ 0:41:56Sen. Marshall: Are there metrics you are measuring, how do you measure success?
▶ 0:42:05Ms. Vaughn: Of course, as a public school, we are required to do state testing, so those are metrics. We also do map assessments and fall, winter, and spring. Then we do parent and student satisfaction surveys, as well. I would just like to say that our map assessment data -- nope, I already talked about that, never mind. But we are doing good. All of our state testing and metrics are showing that our model works.
▶ 0:42:33Sen. Marshall: And I was intrigued with their interaction and charter school and a public school. Did I understand that right? Explain the barriers and how you overcame those barriers, getting the best of both worlds, it sounds like.
▶ 0:42:48Ms. Vaughn: It really was. It was extraordinary. We had already approached our local district superintendent and told them of our plans to start this specific charter school for kids with dyslexia. And finding and building, as senator cassidy said, is one of the hardest things to do when you are starting a school.
▶ 0:43:15Ms. Vaughn: And our superintendent for the school district of pickens county knew that we were having that struggle. We needed seven classrooms and two offices. He had seven classrooms and two offices. We had a memorandum of understanding. Our lease was in place. And we operated as a school, an independent charter school, within that public school. It worked out great.
▶ 0:43:39Sen. Marshall: Ok. Dyslexia sounds like something you are involved with, as well. Hate to ask the question, do not know the answer, is it increasing or is it just my imagination and we're just able to diagnose it more? What is the impact of social media and gaming and the screen time for kids and dyslexia?
▶ 0:44:05Ms. Vaughn: Ms. coco, I don't know if you want to answer that. I have thought, but I will also defer to you since you are the special ed expert.
▶ 0:44:13Ms. Coco: What I can tell you, senator marshall, is that in the most recent I.d.e.a. Reporting, dyslexia falls into the category of specific learning disability under the I.d.e.a., and that is the largest share of students with disabilities under the I.d.e.a.. Thinking out the top of my head, it was about 33%.
▶ 0:44:36Ms. Coco: Specific learning disabilities which includes dyslexia has always been one of the larger footprints within I.d.e.a., and I think emphasis on science and reading and really strong early intervention practices, which our organization deeply supports, is helping us get a whole lot more sophisticated in how we identify it and get early interventions. What I cannot speak to is research on the connection that screen time -- outside my lane of expertise.
▶ 0:45:04Sen. Marshall: So with your students with dyslexia, do you encourage them to have more screen time or less screen time, or is that part of the prescription?
▶ 0:45:14Ms. Coco: I do not know. I apologize, I cannot answer that.
▶ 0:45:18Sen. Marshall: T so much.
▶ 0:45:23Chair Cassidy: Study at a veal shows a 20% of the population has dyslexia. -- a study out of yale. There is a spectrum. Out of cleveland clinic, someone was able to overcome it, very bright man. But others are so impaired they literally cannot read. I think what we are seeing is an increased frequency of identification. Former governor hassan began to put a universal screening program in new hampshire.
▶ 0:45:54Chair Cassidy: It is more that people are not being identified but have it, as opposed to, I think, the incidence rising. Thank you. Next would be senator kim.
▶ 0:46:08Sen. Kim: Thank you to the three of you for coming out and sharing with us. Ms. coco, I would like to start with you. In your testimony and what you just set before us, you noted that congress, when they passed I.d.e.a. Over 50 years ago, the federal government committed to covering up to 40% of the additional cost of educating a student with disabilities. What is that percentage right now?
▶ 0:46:36Ms. Coco: Thank you, senator kim paired right now, the percentage is about 10%. Congress has never fully funded the I.d.e.a., never reached 40 percent. But the particular 10% funding is amongst the lowest it has ever been. But you have our school districts that are receiving and burying billions of dollars of overhead that could be covered by the federal government, according to the original promise under law.
▶ 0:47:04Sen. Kim: Thank you for explaining that. I will be honest, that is not something I knew prior to my timing congress. I do not think a lot of americans understand what we're talking about here. I think it is incumbent upon this committee and as senators and those in congress to be thinking about, what is the federal government's role and responsibilities, but also how we may have contributed to the challenges we're facing. I liked how you framed it. You are not trying to pick the schools or families against each other.
▶ 0:47:32Sen. Kim: I guess I would just ask you, what would be different, in your mind, if we were able to fully fund up to 40% from the federal government, how would this hearing be now if you felt like that was the circumstance? Curious your thoughts.
▶ 0:47:51Ms. Coco: When we look at, and we spend a lot of time looking at the state and local budgets, particularly for charter schools, the resourcing they get to do special education, they bear a disproportionate cost. So they are left making very difficult decisions. Are we going to invest in having occupational therapists on staff, or do we want to make a choice and have reading interventionists?
▶ 0:48:17Ms. Coco: And I envision a school where we have both, as well as social workers and school psychologists. So I think the funding strain that is put on states and schools, it really puts them in very painful positions where they are bearing a significant amount of costs.
▶ 0:48:35Sen. Kim: It is really stretching those limited resources in many different ways, and so we are seeing sort of a competition almost. That is what is causing some of this. In your written testimony, I think you pointed out in your remarks the enrollment gap that we are seeing when it comes to the number of students with disabilities in charter schools, as opposed to traditional public schools.
▶ 0:49:00Sen. Kim: But in your written testimony, you actually point out there is perhaps even more concerning data about the actual data about academic gains. Would you mind going into that a little bit more deep in terms of just what is the gap on the academic gains that is drawing your attention to this?
▶ 0:49:20Ms. Coco: Absolutely. Probably the seminal research is on this are out of stanford university, the credo study. Their last findings I think in 2024 looked at different subgroups of students and whether there gains were greater and traditional public schools or in charter schools. I do want to complement charter schools, for most student subgroups they were showing greater gains.
▶ 0:49:45Ms. Coco: The one student subgroup that did not show gains greater in traditional publix than in charter schools and showed academic learning losses were students with disabilities. It brings me no joy to say that, but it certainly drives the why of our work. That is a trend we see in most charter communities around the country that we partner with.
▶ 0:50:05Sen. Kim: If we are able to provide more of that funding, do you think that could unlock opportunities that could fill some of that academic gap? Is this just a situation where even though we are able to provide more at the charter schools themselves, as well as the public schools to be able to increase the gain the students with disabilities will have?
▶ 0:50:29Ms. Coco: We certainly feel that more money, particularly for the I.d.e.a., is very needed and necessary. I am also mindful of critics who say we cannot just buy our way out of the nation's educational outcome crisis for students.
▶ 0:50:43Ms. Coco: I think were congress is at its best is when it appropriately funds all the subparts of our education budgets and gives it clear instructions about how we are incentivizing the things we want to see, and we do that with a fully staffed and fully functioning department of ed that his steering states and districts across the country in the right direction.
▶ 0:51:03Sen. Kim: Thank you for that. As I close here, just want to say, everything that comes before here and congress is a choice, a choice of what we fund and prioritize. As a father of a third grader and fifth grader, I want to look at what is best for my kids, but I am also test with looking out for everyone's kids. These choices before us when I think about how it would cost $40 billion I.d.e.a.
▶ 0:51:26Sen. Kim: For this country to fully fund and think about all the other choices we are facing right now, and to be honest, as I have been coming in and out of hearings about the iran war, $40 billion is what we spend in the last couple of weeks and that work, we have opportunities here to be able to invest in close these gaps. So I urge I senate colleagues here to understand the trade-offs and hopefully prioritize our kids. I yield back.
▶ 0:51:52Chair Cassidy: -- >> hey, yell. Thank you again for being here. Ms. jackson, you had an option for a traditional school, but you chose geo. Can you tell me, was it just that he wanted them all to attend the same school?
▶ 0:52:12Ms. Jackson: I had the opportunity to put them in a public school, but I put them in a charter school, and the reason why, honestly, is because when I look at -- I want to make sure I use my words correctly when it comes to this -- when it comes to my daughters, do I believe that my daughters, if they would have went to a public school, do I believe that they would have been given the same opportunity to become valedictorian or to exceed as high as they did?
▶ 0:52:44Ms. Jackson: No, I do not. The reason why is because most of the time in those public schools, most public schools, you still deal with the minority, still deal with them not being able to get certain things with counseling her with people looking out for them to make sure that they exceed.
▶ 0:53:06Chair Cassidy: Hang on, I actually found a lot of agreement here between the three witnesses. I need to say that. And I think there is support for both educational options, but Ms.
▶ 0:53:20Chair Cassidy: Coco would be making the point that some charter schools do not have insufficient skill by which to provide services, but you just raise the issue and I did not know you were going to do this that you actually received more support of certain types for your daughters at the charter school than you felt they would have received at the traditional school.
▶ 0:53:40Ms. Jackson: Yes, sir.
▶ 0:53:42Chair Cassidy: And one thing Ms. coco said is we need more accountability for the charter school, but perhaps we also needed for the traditional schools. Because I think you mentioned, Ms. vaughn, that -- was it you? I have heard this so often, maybe it was Ms.
▶ 0:53:58Chair Cassidy: Mcdonald who was quoted, that the services for children with dyslexia were not what they needed to be in the traditional school, indeed the kind of very farsighted superintendent in pickens county knew they were not meeting the need and actually provided you a sublet. Is that a fair summary?
▶ 0:54:18Ms. Vaughn: That is a fair summary. You are right, my daughter had a diagnosis of a specific learning disability, dyslexia and dysgraphia, and she was not given an iep or five up for an hour traditional public school because she was --
▶ 0:54:35Chair Cassidy: You do not impress me as a wallflower. Know what I am saying? I am not getting the vibe that you are a shrinking violet. So when they did not give it to your daughter, I cannot believe that you were just going to be, ok, my daughter didn't get it. So what did you do?
▶ 0:54:50Ms. Vaughn: We started a charter school. [laughter]
▶ 0:54:54Chair Cassidy: Did you ask them to give the I.d.e.a.?
▶ 0:54:59Ms. Vaughn: We did. They did not give it. My daughter get -- did get a 504 eventually because she ultimately ended up with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder because her needs for dyslexia were not being met and she was having panic attacks in the classroom.
▶ 0:55:14Chair Cassidy: Recall from a different conversation that there were panic attacks but they went away after she started getting the dyslexia work.
▶ 0:55:23Ms. Vaughn: Yes, sir.
▶ 0:55:26Chair Cassidy: Ms. coco, intriguing testimony. Kind of chicken and egg. On the one hand, you say the charter school -- and I think we can all agree that schools need to be accountable, because clearly the schools are not addressing your daughters need. See if I get this right, on the one hand, charter schools are not providing services mandated under law because they have insufficient scale, but that insufficient skill, because Ms.
▶ 0:55:55Chair Cassidy: Vaughn would say they have too few resources, one of you said 75% of the resources as a traditional school, so how do you score that? Do we equalize funding between -- let the money follow the student in the same amount of funding goes wherever the student goes, whether she goes to a charter or traditional public? Your thoughts?
▶ 0:56:20Ms. Coco: Thank you, senator. A couple policy solutions that the center for learner equity, we have thought about, when it comes to that funding and resource cap, it is something we are very vocal about at the state level. Solutions include where charter schools are being denied access to state high-cost services or excess cost funds. Again, not a monolith, and some states it works well, too many states it doesn't. There's also services and supports charter schools often need to reimburse for medicaid.
▶ 0:56:50Ms. Coco: It is a taxing procedural process where a charter school is very small and it is difficult to do. Those are some of the interventions we think of that would help. That said, I think you are right, I have spent a decade representing students in charter schools and traditional public schools, and I can tell you, I have been a good ones of all stripes and in ones of all stripes where it was really underwhelming and student's needs were very much slow old going or unmet.
▶ 0:57:16Ms. Coco: It brings us back again to that need particularly for a fully functioning department of ed that is consistently implementing I.d.e.a. Oversight and an office for civil rights where families can file complaints if they really truly feel they are being ignored.
▶ 0:57:31Chair Cassidy: I will point out, senator kaine, Ms. vaughn, sounds like roughly 100% of your patients have a specific learning disorder, which is to say 100% of people, special needs, if you will, so you are actually, as you kind of suggested, you may even get referrals from traditional schools which -- decreases the number of kids who they have to address. Is that a fair statement?
▶ 0:58:01Ms. Coco: Yes.
▶ 0:58:02Chair Cassidy: With that, I will go to senator kaine.
▶ 0:58:07Sen. Kaine: Thank you, Mr. chair. Thank you for the hearing. It is a really important topic, a topic of making sure that students with disabilities have the same opportunities to be all they can be, as anybody. It is interesting, the I.d.e.a., and some ways it might be one of the most successful clauses of her past, even though we have never done what we should have done on the funding side.
▶ 0:58:34Sen. Kaine: Nobody ever says repealed the I.d.e.a., because of the origin, that a student with a designated disability should get an individualized education, and we need to make sure that student can achieve more. It is such a powerful idea, even with too much paperwork are not enough funding, the concept cannot go away.
▶ 0:58:55Sen. Kaine: If you think about the delta of white students with disabilities have been able to accomplish post -- if you think about the delta of what students with disabilities have been able to accomplish post I.d.e.a. And pre-I.d.e.a. It is really important, and the funding is important.
▶ 0:59:17Sen. Kaine: I have kids, and they went through public service enrichment, a k-12 system with about 25,000 students, and my wife is on the school board in richmond. It is a high poverty system. Probably 90% of the kids in the schools are on free or reduced lunch. Majority minority system. Yet, it is a system that works really well for a lot of kids, certainly for my kids. One of my kids was on an iep.
▶ 0:59:42Sen. Kaine: You know this but not everybody knows, a student with a designated disability often only needs an iep for a couple years. For one of my kids, that was speech therapy. Designated as needing speech therapy. Had a couple really good years with a speech therapist. After two years, did not need the iep. So you provide that targeted service. In my case, it was done very successfully in a public school setting.
▶ 1:00:10Sen. Kaine: And then the student advances to a place where the iep is no longer necessary. For others, the iep will always be a feature of their education. We do need to do better on the funding side. What I want to talk to you about, Ms. coco, is I'm worried about the department of education and how it impacts the enforcement of the I.d.e.a.. -- I'm worried about the dismantling of the department of education.
▶ 1:00:39Sen. Kaine: In 2025, virginians submitted 750 cases to the office of the civil rights in education. 130 of the 570 were connected to students with disabilities. 27 were for being harassed over disabilities. 103 where the more common claim that we are not being provided the services that the I.d.e.a. Set up, not getting a free appropriate public education.
▶ 1:01:06Sen. Kaine: Of those 570 cases submitted in 2025, only one was resolved. The ocr is being dramatically shrunk, the number of cases they take is reducing their workload, dramatically reducing. That leaves parents, whether they are parents of a kid in a charter school or public school, really without someone to go to bat for them. And I'm very troubled by that.
▶ 1:01:34Sen. Kaine: The next thing I am troubled by is the trump administration has decided to defund much of the doe and worked on by contractors , the doe effort to produce data. Like to produce data, to show, how are students in rural schools doing?
▶ 1:01:53Sen. Kaine: Students in public schools, students with disabilities, how are white kids doing, how are african-american kids doing, how are latino kids or other kids who are non-english learners doing? One of the first things that the administration did, which seems to counter the notion we ought to be promoting improvement, was scrapped so much of the research and so much of the data that was being done. Let me ask you, how troubled are you, Ms.
▶ 1:02:21Sen. Kaine: Coco, with the department of ed that is shrinking and being dismantled, including the core civil servants trying to enforce this really important law that will support?
▶ 1:02:32Ms. Coco: Thank you, senator, for that important question. The center for learner equity, along with a host of other disability advocates and civil rights advocates, we have been deeply concerned by the intentional dismantling of the department of education. Again, we recognize that our nations scores show that our students are not learning and there is a fire drill happening are our need to act urgently and swiftly for kids.
▶ 1:03:02Ms. Coco: Yet, this dismantling is taking apart the critical foundations that make our public education infrastructure work. When we look at special education alone, reductions in staff at the office for special education programs, those are the expertise and experts that our state directors of special education call when they need help. Now there's questions of, who are they calling to get that technical assistance?
▶ 1:03:28Ms. Coco: The disinvestment and research, we cannot get better if we do not know what works, and we do not know who specifically needs the assistance. Amongst the office for civil rights responsibilities, they also are tasked with conducting the civil rights data collection, a really unique and important set of data that tells us how different student subgroups are doing. And that data collection has not happened. It is behind schedule and we are uncertain if it will be conducted. Very concerned.
▶ 1:03:59Sen. Kaine: I am over time, but thank you for sharing that, and thanks for all of you for coming and sharing.
▶ 1:04:04Chair Cassidy: Thank you, sir. I think husted.
▶ 1:04:08Sen. Cruz: Dead t -- senator
▶ 1:04:13Husted: Thank you, chairman, and thank you to the witnesses. Charter schools, the first bill I passed in the ohio legislature had to do with charter schools. I will give you a little background.
▶ 1:04:29Husted: During one of my first jobs I had, I worked at the dayton area chamber of commerce and dayton, ohio, during a difficult time period when jobs were leaving, the city was struggling, matter-of-fact, it was 613 out of 613 and its academic ranking. Frankly, it was part of the reason that I ran for public office to begin with.
▶ 1:04:53Husted: As a community, we tried electing new school board members, hiring new superintendents, doing all kinds of things, and the public school system continued to produce the worst results, and I remember saying to myself, I will run for the state legislature, because who could be against poor children trapped in a failing school district from having a choice? Well, I learned, Mr. chairman, there were lots of people against that.
▶ 1:05:25Husted: But the families living in those communities were not against that, they wanted other options. And we passed the first charter school legislation in the state of ohio history, first freestanding bill as it relates to it, at least, and I will tell you, we learned a lot from it. Because some of those charter schools did really well and some of them did not do well.
▶ 1:05:49Husted: But I learned, we learned along the way, and I will see if this is similar to your experiences, is that one of the things that parents wanted more than anything is just a safe place for their kid to be in school. Their child to be in school, because it wasn't safe.
▶ 1:06:12Husted: So the charter schools provided a safe school right in their neighborhood where they did not have to write a bus across town, right down the street, they knew where their child was, particularly for the littlest ones. They knew it was safe.
▶ 1:06:30Husted: And that was the number one reason that the parents told us that they wanted to have that neighborhood charter school, because of safety for their children and that if the school was in the neighborhood and they needed to know what was going on with the child, they could walk to the school and the parent could visit and could be involved. They had ways to get parents involved in the school district or in the school and get them supported. And that is what I learned from that experience.
▶ 1:07:00Husted: And I also know this, we talk a lot about how, what is the best way to educate children? There is no best way, there are better ways, because every child learns differently, every child has different needs. By the way, there's no school that can be perfect for everyone. It is not possible. Because children are different. But we cannot just have a one-size-fits-all approach.
▶ 1:07:27Husted: We need different options for kids and families based on their individual needs. It might be special students, might be someone who has dyslexia, we could go through the whole list. There are people -- I could go down the list of things of how people learn differently. I am curious, as I see our witnesses today, Ms. vaughn, is that your experience? What insights can you provide?
▶ 1:07:58Ms. Vaughn: Thank you. That is my family's experience. For three of my kids, they were not thriving in our public school. We love our public school. I went to that school. Simple houston I went to public school my whole life, and my children do, too.
▶ 1:08:19Ms. Vaughn: But they needed more support than that school could offer. My other child, he did fine and public school through elementary school, but he just needed a little bit more in middle school, and that was our choice, to send him to a charter school for middle school.
▶ 1:08:34Sen. Sheehy: Used in -- Ms., similar?
▶ 1:08:43Ms. Jackson: Yes, senator. With mine, to me, with the charter schools is the public schools is different, it is totally different. I think that they do not really focus as much on kids that are in low income areas.
▶ 1:09:03Sen. Husted: I know my time is almost up. But I have a good new story about dayton, ohio. There is now a schooler called the dayton early college academy. It is the best, highest performing school in the city of dayton, and it is a charter school, and it is thriving.
▶ 1:09:24Sen. Husted: And the stories of those children who previously did not have a great place to go to school, who find themselves at the dayton early college academy , are now thriving. The success rate that these students have versus the students in other areas of the city that they come from is so much better and so much more enhanced, and families are satisfied. It is growing and has a waiting list all the time. All this good stuff.
▶ 1:09:55Sen. Husted: And it has spawned the production and creation of other charter schools in the city who are beginning to do similar things. And that is the power of what charter schools and school choice and helping to give families and parents and children choices that better fit their needs, provide some places where children have no other options. So there can be a good news story, Mr.
▶ 1:10:22Sen. Husted: Chairman, and I think the witnesses for being here today. Thank you.
▶ 1:10:28Chair Cassidy: Thank you, senator. For any senator wishing to ask additional questions, questions for the record are due 5:00 p.m. Thursday, june 4. Thank you all for being here. I really appreciate it. Thank you for getting on that plane after graduation. I know you're incredibly proud of your daughters. It is really wonderful. The committee stands adjourned.