Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

6-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Julie Lanne

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Bill Hunt

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Hoiwah Fong

Abstract

This study investigated the financial effect of enrolling students with disabilities in Catholic high schools located in states that offer vouchers or scholarships for these students. Furthermore, the research aimed to understand the school’s experience in collaborating with the U.S. Department of Education to meet the criteria for voucher acceptance. It is important to note that enrollment and tuition revenue is the key to a school’s financial stability. Using an exploratory case study approach, information was gathered from a variety of stakeholders including the superintendent, administration, business manager, admissions coordinator, teachers, and counselors. The findings indicated that parents of children with disabilities were able to afford the tuition, thanks to state scholarships, which allowed them to send their children to Catholic schools—something they otherwise could not have managed. Although the Catholic high school selected for this study did not experience an increase in enrollment, it was noted that two neighboring Catholic high schools did see an increase as a result of enrolling students with disabilities. Additionally, the study found that the experience of working with the U.S. Department of Education was positive.

Keywords: students with disabilities, state voucher or scholarship, U.S. Department of Education, Catholic schools

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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