Candidates discuss disability issues

(POL) Seventeen candidates – along with one liaison to a candidate – running for state and federal offices spoke at a Saturday forum discussing issues affecting disabled citizens.

            The event occurred at the Oklahoma History Center and was sponsored by the Oklahoma Rehabilitation Council and the Heartland Council for the Blind. The candidates discussed education, transportation, budgetary matters and job creation, along with other issues.

            House District 84 Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, was the first to speak.

            “One of the things that’s near and dear to my heart is education,” Kern said. “I’ve been fortunate to get legislation passed to advance education.”

            Kern said she was instrumental in passing HB 3393. Kern said the bill, which she co-sponsored, provides more opportunities for disabled students.

            The bill, by Rep. Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, creates the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program Act to provide a scholarship to a private school of choice for students with disabilities for whom an individualized education program, or IEP, has been developed, to be awarded beginning with the 2010-2011 school year. The bill allows a parent or legal guardian of a public school student with a disability to exercise their parental option and request to have a scholarship awarded for the child to enroll in and attend a private school if the student has spent the prior year at a public school and the student has been accepted into a private school eligible for the scholarship program. The bill establishes parameters for private schools to qualify to participate in the scholarship program, including meeting the accreditation requirements set by the State Board of Education or another accrediting association and demonstrating fiscal soundness through one year of operation or providing the Department of Education a statement from a certified public accountant. The bill also establishes parameters for student participation and payment of the scholarship. It states that no liability shall arise on the part of the state or a school district based on the award or use of any scholarship provided under the act.

            Kern said she would also support a bill that would make the federal Americans with Disabilities Act state law.

            “If there’s no enforcement, then it should be voted in,” Kern said.

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