Schools; Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program; eligibility for children with incarcerated parents; effective date.
HB2928 expands Oklahoma’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program to include children who have at least one incarcerated parent. Under the bill, a parent or legal guardian may request a scholarship for a public school student with a disability, a student on an individualized service plan, or a student with an incarcerated parent, so long as the student meets the program’s other eligibility requirements. The bill also requires the parent or guardian to provide documentation verifying the parent’s incarceration, including the inmate number or comparable proof from the relevant correctional system.
The bill preserves the program’s existing structure for private-school scholarships, including application deadlines, school eligibility standards, payment procedures, and reporting requirements. It also keeps the rule that scholarship acceptance shifts financial responsibility for the student’s education to the parent or guardian, including transportation, and it maintains the Department of Education’s authority to approve, suspend, or revoke participating private schools for noncompliance. The measure is set to take effect November 1, 2025.
HB2928 would amend 70 O.S. 2021, Section 13-101.2, the statute governing the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program, by adding a new eligibility category for students with at least one incarcerated parent. It would also impose a documentation requirement for those applications and leave intact the program’s existing administrative, funding, and oversight provisions. The bill affects the State Department of Education, participating private schools, school districts, and families seeking scholarship access, while continuing to limit state liability and regulatory authority over private schools beyond the statute’s express terms.
The available context suggests generally favorable treatment of the bill, or at least no recorded opposition in the materials provided. The bill advanced to second reading and was referred to Rules, and there are no committee transcripts or recorded votes showing debate, amendments, or dissent. The caption and text indicate the measure is framed as an expansion of school-choice access for a specific student population, which typically signals support for the underlying policy goal.
The main policy issue raised by the bill’s text is the expansion of a disability scholarship program to children with incarcerated parents, which may prompt questions about whether the program should be used for a new eligibility group beyond students with disabilities. The bill also requires proof of parental incarceration, so administrative verification and privacy concerns could be points of practical contention. More broadly, the statute continues to place responsibility on parents for private-school costs not covered by the scholarship and limits additional regulation of private schools, which are common areas of debate in scholarship and school-choice programs.