Note (July 2022): The McKay Scholarship has been renamed the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA). The way scholarship amounts are calculated hasn’t changed, so everything below still applies.
This is one of the most common things parents ask us. The short answer: scholarship amounts are based on your child’s specific needs as documented in their IEP or 504 Plan. Not a flat rate.
If your neighbor’s child receives more funding, it’s likely because their IEP reflects a broader range of services and supports. A child with higher needs (more intensive services, related therapies, specialized instruction) will have a higher matrix score and a higher scholarship.
The scholarship amount comes from what’s called a Matrix Score. This score is calculated based on the services listed in your child’s IEP or 504 Plan. It’s meant to reflect what it would cost the public school system to educate your child given their level of need.
The more services your child requires (speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral support, specialized instruction), the higher the matrix score and the larger the scholarship. A child who needs significant support in a self-contained classroom is estimated to cost more to educate than a child who only needs minor accommodations in a general ed setting.
We hear this a lot: “Can you just increase my child’s matrix score?” The honest answer is no, and we wouldn’t want to anyway. An advocate isn’t there to game the system. We’re held to the same ethical standards as the school district when it comes to documenting a child’s needs accurately.
What we can do is review your child’s current IEP alongside their most recent evaluations and see whether everything is documented correctly. In our experience, most IEPs don’t fully capture a child’s needs. When we go through them carefully and make sure nothing has been missed, that’s when families often see their matrix score go up. Not because we padded anything, but because the IEP finally reflects reality.
A well-written IEP does two things: it gets your child the right support, and it makes sure the funding follows. Those two goals should always go hand in hand.
The IEP needs to honestly reflect your child’s strengths and their needs. We don’t want to over-service a child or put them in a more restrictive environment than necessary. That’s not good for them, regardless of funding. But we also don’t want anything left out that should be there.
If you want peace of mind that your child’s IEP is as accurate as possible, and that the FES-UA funding reflects their actual needs, working with a special education advocate is worth it. We’re here to make sure the paperwork matches your child’s real-life situation.
