School Vouchers: the Discrimination Problem

This is Part III of my attempt to catch folks up on the pluses and minuses of school voucher programs, especially as they impact minorities and kids with disabilities.  As I've mentioned, there's a new school voucher program here in Colorado (in Douglas County).  The school district, obviously, thinks this is a good idea.

Again, the ACLU does not agree.  See earlier discussion here.

Plus, as discussed in this WSJ article about the voucher program, this looks like the classic case of vouchers "skimming off the top" - since the vouchers won't actually cover the entire cost of the typical private school, low income families really can't take advantage of them.  In essence, it looks like the vouches are subsidies to middle and upper class families, who can now leave public schools in favor of something they think is better.

Now, some states have actively tried to address concerns with school voucher programs by offering additional assistance to low-income families, and ancillary supports (like transportation).  Some have even enacted scholarship programs (another way to describe school vouchers) for kids with disabilities - Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, Utah, and Florida, just to name a few.  (The 12 year old Florida McKay Scholarship, a leader in this movement, will be the subject of another post). This is a great development (check out this interesting piece in the NY Times.)

But, not so in this case here in Colorado!

Special Education Law Basics, Part Two

Again, in order to lay the groundwork for future posts and topics I plan to address, I want to make sure everyone has a basic grounding in the principles and acronyms used in special education law.  In my first post on the topic, I covered the super simple basics: how are special education services provided, and what's the legal standard used.  (Need a refresher?  Hit Back to Basics again).

As I've said before, the IDEA is both a funding statute, providing federal funds for state schools, and a civil rights statute, designed to rectify decades of discrimination against children with special needs.  In keeping with its role as a civil rights statute, the law provides procedural safeguards designed to protect the rights of children with disabilities and their parents.  Some of these safeguards consist of various notice requirements (e.g., the school must provide parents with "prior written notice" before changing the placement of a child).  Other procedures address what happens if the collaborative process envisioned by the IDEA breaks down. 

You can see, I'm sure, the possibility for big disputes between the parents and the school district concerning the education of a child with disabilities.  Some parents feel like inclusion isn't the best place for their child (as I discussed in The Inclusive Classroom); other parents feel like their child can succeed in a general education classroom, albeit with appropriate supports.  School districts, meanwhile, have limited resources, declining budgets, and staffing challenges.  The first step in a dispute between the school and the parent is informal dispute resolution, just as any parent would approach the school if the child was having an issue.  The parties can also request mediation, to be conducted by a neutral party at no cost to the parents.  (Mediation is a great option, and I'm a big believer in it).  After this, the escalation procedures are specifically laid out in IDEA.

The Inclusive Classroom: Pipe Dream or a Necessity?

As I mentioned in my intro post about the IDEA, Back to Basics: Special Education, one of the fundamental goals of the IDEA is to eliminate the "separate but equal" status of children with special needs.  Before the IDEA, kids with special needs were not only often in the trailer on the edge of the school campus, there were in a trailer no where near their home school campus.

Many, many parent advocates work tirelessly to promote inclusion.  In the terms of the IDEA, each child must be educated in the "least restrictive environment" appropriate for that child.  Ideally, this would be a general education classroom for all kids.  Now, the IDEA doesn't assume that all kids are going to thrive in a traditional classroom by being simply placed there.  Each IEP must consider appropriate supports and related services that can enable that child to succeed in the general ed classroom - not just be placed there.  These supplemental aids and services can include anything from nursing assistance, psychological therapy, and transportation.  They also include assistive technologies (as you know, a subject near and dear to my heart) such as AACs, PECS, LiveScribe pens, etc.

This is how the IDEA is supposed to work.  As you might imagine, despite great strides towards inclusion, there is some disagreement in the disability community as to what is actually best for the child.