Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Oklahoma: What Homeschool Families Need to Know

Your child has an IEP. The public school placement is not working. You are considering homeschooling — but you are also worried about losing the therapies and services your child depends on. The Lindsey Nicole Henry (LNH) Scholarship was designed for exactly this situation, and Senate Bill 105 (effective July 1, 2025) made it significantly easier to access.

What the LNH Scholarship Is — and Is Not

The LNH Scholarship for Students with Disabilities is a state-funded voucher program that redirects education dollars toward tuition and fees at approved private schools. It is a private school tuition voucher, not a direct cash grant for home instruction.

This is the critical distinction for homeschool families: if you operate independently under Article XIII, Section 4 of the Oklahoma Constitution, LNH funds cannot pay for your homeschool curriculum, textbooks, or parent-provided instruction. The student must be formally enrolled in an approved private school that meets the state's financial, academic, and non-discrimination requirements.

LNH may fund approved therapeutic services — speech therapy, occupational therapy, ABA, psychological services — through participating providers, but independent homeschooling alone is not an LNH-funded program.

What SB 105 Changed

Before SB 105, a student had to spend at least one full year in an Oklahoma public school before applying for the LNH Scholarship. That waiting period was the biggest barrier for families in crisis — a child failing in public school had to stay enrolled there for a year before accessing alternative funding.

SB 105 eliminated that requirement entirely. Eligible students can now access LNH funds immediately once eligibility is verified, without the one-year public school enrollment prerequisite.

Who Qualifies

A student may qualify for the LNH Scholarship if they meet at least one of these criteria:

• Active IEP or Section 504 plan, or has been determined eligible for special education services under IDEA
• Individualized Service Plan (ISP) written by the Department of Human Services
• Child of active-duty military with permanent change of station (PCS) orders to Oklahoma
• Was in out-of-home placement through DHS or the Office of Juvenile Affairs, or was adopted while in DHS custody
• Enrolling in a school that exclusively serves children experiencing homelessness

The expansion under SB 105 broadened access beyond the original IEP-only requirement. Military families PCSing to Oklahoma with a child who has special needs can now access LNH funds without first enrolling in and then leaving the public system.

What LNH Funds Cover

LNH scholarship funds are paid directly to approved service providers, not to families. Approved uses include:

• Private school tuition at an LNH-approved school
• Speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy
• Applied behavior analysis (ABA)
• Psychological services and evaluations
• Assistive technology and devices
• Transportation to approved providers

LNH funds cannot cover: homeschool curriculum, textbooks, general tutoring, online school subscriptions, or any instruction provided by a parent. For homeschool-specific expenses, the Parental Choice Tax Credit (up to $1,000 per child) is the relevant funding mechanism.

What Happens to Special Education Rights When You Withdraw

When you withdraw a child with an IEP from an Oklahoma public school to begin homeschooling, you are making a unilateral parental revocation of consent for special education services under IDEA. Once withdrawal is finalized, the public school district is no longer obligated to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) or deliver the services in the child's IEP.

Independent homeschoolers do not have an automatic right to access public school special education services. However, Oklahoma guidelines permit parents to negotiate part-time or dual enrollment with their resident district to access specific services (speech, OT, PT). These arrangements are at the discretion of local school boards and typically delivered on campus, not at home.

The LNH Scholarship provides an alternative pathway: fund services through approved private providers instead of relying on the public district.

Application Contacts

For application inquiries, contact:

• LNH Specialist: Crystal Royalty, [email protected], 405-521-2372
• Private School Coordinator: Stacy Eden, [email protected], 405-521-4876

Planning the Transition

If your child needs ongoing therapies, begin the LNH application before withdrawing from public school. There can be a gap between withdrawal and the first scholarship-funded appointment. Having the application underway — or approved — before your child's last day minimizes disruption to critical services.

For the withdrawal process itself, the Oklahoma Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers how to exit the public school system cleanly, including situations involving students with active IEPs and how to request records before your child's last day.

See more Oklahoma guides →