Mother of 3: Expanding Florida family empowerment scholarships will change lives | Opinion

My husband and I are parents of three children, ages 5 to 9, each with special needs that include autism, dyslexia, neuropathy, dysgraphia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and Chiari malformation.

Those are scary words, and we were overwhelmed as they were diagnosed one by one. We realized we had a pile of needs. Our days were filed with trips to specialists and therapists.

We didn’t know what to expect when we looked ahead toward their education. Would they be able to attend school? Could they be mainstreamed? Could we find a setting that would accommodate their needs? If so, could we afford such a school?

We knew we would need many diverse options. Thankfully, a Florida education scholarship provided us the opportunity to tailor our children’s education to meet their individual needs.

Now, legislation in the Florida Legislature, House Bill 1, would extend that kind of customization to even more families.

Three years ago, a mother of a child with special needs told me about the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA). The program operates as an education savings account, where money from the scholarship can be used not just for tuition to private schools, but also for therapies, visits to specialists, technology, curriculum and more. Parents have the flexibility to tailor the education to fit their child’s needs.

We applied, and I cried happy tears when we were accepted because I finally felt like there was hope and I could choose an option that was right for them. I just loved feeling that there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

At first, I homeschooled our children because we didn’t have enough money to send them to where I wanted to, and I didn’t think they would do well in a public school setting.

Hope, who is in the fourth grade, is autistic and has dysgraphia, which means she struggles with writing — spelling, word spacing and how to hold a pencil. Caleb, a first-grader, is on the spectrum, is dyslexic and has a rare chromosome disorder that could be related to some of his delays. Mercy, our youngest, is in kindergarten. She was born with Chiari malformation, which means she has a small skull. That presents a set of issues, including headaches. She has ADHD and neuropathy, which makes it feel like she has pins and needles in her extremities.

We use our funds from the FES-UA for tuition at Sunlight Christian Academy  in Port St. Lucie. The K-12 private school works to accommodate our children. Because Hope has trouble writing, she is allowed to use talk-to-text on her Chromebook and can email assignments to her teachers. Caleb’s teachers work around his dyslexia by reading the assignments to him and, in some cases, shortening his assignments.

The FES-UA is a blessing for families like ours. It has revolutionized our life. The opportunities the kids have had are literally only because of this scholarship.

I love the freedom of the program, and I think other families on other scholarships, such as the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, would benefit from having flexibility from an education savings account. Like us, they could tailor it to fit the changing needs of their children. What we used it for last year is not what we’re using it for this year, and probably not what we’re going to use it for next year.

HB 1 not only would provide families on those scholarships the spending flexibility many need. It also would eliminate the FES-UA waitlist, currently at over 9,000 students. I know how important it is that those families receive funding so their kids get the education that best meets their individual needs.

I urge lawmakers to give more Florida students and their families the same kind of flexibility that has been vital to my children’s success.

Emily Hayes, an Ohio native, stay-at-home mom and advocate for Autism acceptance, lives in Port St. Lucie.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Special-needs children's mom: Pass Florida House Bill 1 to help others