The Special Needs Scholarship Program (SNSP) is a great program that allows a student with a disability, who meets certain eligibility requirements, to receive a state-funded scholarship to attend a participating private school. The application process is a team effort and requires a student’s parent and a school’s SNSP Administrator or Designee to fill out a paper application. If not filled out correctly, this single sheet of paper can determine the eligibility of a student. Here are some of the key requirements of the SNSP application:
- All parts of the paper application or transfer request need to be completed except the race, ethnicity, telephone number, middle initials, and name suffixes.
- There are several areas of the application that require the parent or school to check designated boxes on the application. Ensure that these items are filled out along with the other parts of the application.
- Ensure the parent’s or guardian’s initials are included in the first two boxes under the parent or guardian certification section.
- Every student’s first name, last name, and grade level in the Student Information System (SIS) system must match the application information submitted to DPI and the student’s paper application.
- Make sure that the current resident school district matches the school district verification documentation that is obtained.
- All parts of the application need to be legible.
- Corrections need to be made using the strikethrough method as follows:
- Using a “
strikethrough line” with indelible ink and not with the use of correction fluid, i.e. “white-out.” Any paper applications and transfer requests corrected with “white-out” are ineligible. - The school administrator or designee must initial all changes made to the paper application or transfer requests and must have written documentation to support the change.
- Using a “
- Parent signature and signature date must be completed before the school sent the IEP/Services plan verification email to the LEA AND before the application was submitted.
- The paper application or transfer request must be signed by an individual who was the SNSP Administrator or an SNSP designee as of the date the application was received.
- After the LEA has provided a copy of a student’s IEP/Services plan the SNSP Administrator or Designee needs to complete the final sections of the application noting final eligibility status, signature of the SNSP Administrator or Designee and date the final eligibility decision was made. At this time it is also important to compare the following items reported on the application to the information obtained from the LEA:
- Name of the LEA that developed the IEP or services plan
- Date of last IEP team or services plan evaluation or reevaluation reported on the application to the information obtained from the LEA.
There are a few items that DPI deems “uncorrectable” errors on the application which will immediately cause the student to be ineligible for SNSP. It is important that schools lookout for the following:
- The parent/guardian signature does not match the parent/guardian name.
- The paper application or transfer request is completed by a student who was not yet 18 at the time they completed the application or transfer request.
- The date application or transfer request received, parent/guardian signature or parent/guardian date signed was not filled out on the paper application or transfer request.
As is evident, the documentation requirements for SNSP applications can be cumbersome. Our best advice is to use the DPI’s SNSP application checklist and print one-off for each student’s file to use as a guide. The checklist can be found here:
As always if you have any questions regarding these requirements, please contact your Hawkins Ash CPAs representative.
