Lindsay Nicole Henry Scholarships

The Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Act, passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Brad Henry in 2010, provides public funds for eligible children with disabilities to attend private schools.

Students are eligible to receive the scholarship if they meet one of the following criteria:

• The student has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), an Individualized Service Plan (ISP), or meets the eligibility standards for Special Education services in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
• The student has had an Individualized Service Plan written by the Department of Human Services (DHS).
• The student is a child of a member of the United States Armed Forces who transfers to a school in this state from out of state or from a foreign country pursuant to a permanent change of station orders of the parent.
• The student was in out-of-home placement with DHS.
• The student was adopted while in permanent custody of DHS.
• The student is enrolling or is enrolled in a school that exclusively serves students experiencing homelessness.
• The student was in out-of-home placement with the Office of Juvenile Affairs.

In 2025, the Legislature passed SB 105 that removed a requirement that eligible students must have attended a public school the prior year and have been served under IDEA.

A participating private school receives a voucher in an amount equal to state and local dollars spent on the child in public school or the private school’s tuition and fees, whichever is less. The program has no income cap so any student who meets eligibility criteria is eligible regardless of the family’s income. In 2012, the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the program faced with a challenge from Tulsa-area school districts.

In the 2024-25 school year, private schools received $13.6M to serve 1,724 LNH recipients, an average of $7,876 per student, according to the annual report compiled by the State Department of Education. The number of scholarship recipients nearly quadrupled from 2015-16 (455) to 2024-25. There are 113 private schools that have been approved to participate, almost all of which are run by religious institutions.  Oklahoma City’s Trinity School of Edgemere (152 students), Tulsa’s Town and Country school (149 students), and Tulsa’s Victory Christian School (80 students) served the largest number of LHN recipients in 2024-25.