Student Funding

The maximum voucher amount is equal to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program base student cost, i.e., the funding amount provided by the state to public schools. That amount is $6,532 in 2022–23.  

(Last updated December 18, 2023)

Student Eligibility

Students must be in grades K through 6 and have been screened properly and diagnosed with speech-language impairment. Students are eligible if, during the previous school year, they attended a public or state accredited special-purpose school that “emphasizes instruction in speech-language therapy and intervention.” The voucher is not available to fund homeschooling, virtual schools, or students in juvenile detention centers.  

(Last updated December 18, 2023)

EdChoice Expert Feedback

Mississippi’s voucher program for students with special needs helps only a handful of students access schools that are the right fit for them. Mississippi policymakers could do much more to expand educational opportunity. 

Eligibility for the vouchers is limited to students in grades K through 6 who have been diagnosed with a speech-language impairment, making it one of the most restrictive educational choice programs in the nation. Less than five percent of Mississippi students are eligible for a scholarship and less than one percent of students statewide actually use one of Mississippi’s three educational choice programs (including the Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Program and the Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship Program). 

The average voucher size is about $6,063, which is about 60 percent of the average expenditure per student at Mississippi’s district schools.  

To expand access to educational choice, Mississippi policymakers should expand eligibility to all students. 

Mississippi’s voucher program generally avoids unnecessary and counterproductive regulations. 

(Last updated December 18, 2023)

Rules and Regulations

• Income Limit: None
• Prior Year Public School Requirement: Yes, with exceptions 
• Geographic Limit: Statewide
• Enrollment Cap: None
• Voucher Cap: $9,614
• Testing Mandates: None
• *Limited to students with special needs

School Requirements:

• Be approved as a state-accredited nonpublic special-purpose school that is organized to provide, and emphasizes instruction in, speech-language therapy and intervention as the primary purpose of the school
• Provide comprehensive speech-language therapy instruction delivered by speech-language pathologists licensed by the state department of education and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Annually provide the parents of voucher students a written explanation of the student’s progress
• Conduct criminal background checks on employees.
• Allow for an annual audit of its financial records by the state auditor and file a copy of the audit report and accompanying management letter with the state board of education

(Last updated December 18, 2023)

Governing Statutes

Miss. Code Ann. §§ 37-175-1 through 29

(Last updated December 18, 2023)

Legal History

No legal challenges have been filed against the program.

(Last updated March 1, 2023)