A growing number of parents frustrated by school district bureaucracy are opting to forgo public education altogether for their children with disabilities.
In Texas, there was a 75 percent increase between 2003 and 2010 in the number of special education students in middle school and high school who left public classrooms for private ones, statistics show. Meanwhile, other families are saying goodbye to districts in favor of home schooling their kids with special needs.
Though the reasons families are fleeing the traditional special education system vary, most say they are sick of fighting to secure services they believe their kids need.
For Leslie Phillips, choosing a $30,000-per-year private school for her son with autism came down to assessing where her resources could be best allocated. Phillips said she preferred to pay tuition rather than employ lawyers to fight her Katy, Texas school district, especially after her son came home with unexplained bruises, reports the Houston Chronicle. To read more click here.
Attorney focusing on special-ed, here with a friendly reminder: parentally-chosen private schools don’t have the same IDEA regulation that public schools have. If they work for the student, great!
If not, you’re out the money anyway.
(I wrote a law-review note on how lack of funding impairs IDEA enforcement…too bad Pitt decided not to publish it.)
It has nothing to do with lack of funding. Schools just will not do it.
Mom of special needs young adult in west mich
KA101: How as your astute observation added any substance to the conversation? Most would much rather spend their money on actually educating their children than on you and your law degree. When parents are spending their after tax dollars on educating their child(ren), they are far more likely to shop for the school which best meets the needs of their child(ren). The public doesn’t have this option with public schools. You are required to attend the school assessment given unless you can show just cause. Even then the student is at the mercy of chance as to the quality of teacher assigned.
Speaking as an advocate running a non-profit which has taken many appeals to the school board, we are unimpressed.
What we see is another one of those moral hazards: by refusing to provide the services and making advocacy for your child such an incredible time, energy and money drain, school districts are rewarded by not having to deal with special needs kids, effectively shoving them out of the public school system. By making it so easy for schools to get away with this, Congress failed in its objectives under IDEA. Meanwhile, the law creates incredible divisiveness between families and this essential American institution found in every community, further isolating kids with disabilities.
In Pennsylvania, where I practice (Erie, specifically) special-ed funding inequities are enough of a problem to merit a class-action suit. (Schools agree that a given IEP service is needed & include it, but don’t actually provide because there isn’t enough funding.) I had a minor hand in it, and to the best of my knowledge it’s still going. I’m sorry to hear that things are worse in Michigan, hdemic.
Glen S, good to see you again. Lay advocates can have a valuable role in special-ed enforcement. I don’t know where you work, but in PA going to the boards is generally ineffective; that said, if going to the school board helps the folks you work with and they approve of the tactic, so much the better.
Since you asked, one of my first clients came to me after xyr private school changed leadership and the new leadership proceeded to refuse services. With little to no due process protection for the student, there wasn’t much I could do.
So, as I said, having a good private school may well solve the problem. If so, great! I’m all for it. I’d love to find alternate employ because everyone is receiving the education required to lead a fulfilling and productive life. I trust you, as well as your nonprofit, have a similar outlook.
But not all private placements work out, and if that happens, one has significantly less legal options. That’s an unfortunate fact where I practice. If Michigan, Texas, or some other state extends full IDEA protection to parentally-placed private school students, I’d love to know about it.
Thanks for your time.
KA101: Then as I stated earlier, your client, instead of making it a legal issue, should have gone to a different school. It is just that simple. That is the power of free market versus government dictated school assignment. Soon enough even the worse private schools will begin offering effective services due only because the market will dictate it.
I was at an IEP meeting. The special Ed teacher had written into the IEP an additional aid. In my opinion tha was justified. The special Ed director agreed that it was necessary but said he did not have the funds he had just given notice to 15 aids that they would not be rehired due to budget cuts. The director wanted to do what was right but there was no mOney.
Well, private-placement hopping is certainly an option for the moneyed class or those who are willing to make a continuous sacrifice for their children. Legal fees aren’t cheap but at least the non-expert costs are recoverable on victory. Private-placement tuition can only be recovered if the public school’s plan was inappropriate…which needs legal action to make that determination anyway.
Interesting position for an advocacy group’s leader to take, in any event.
This notion that advocacy must turn individuals toward the public sector is a fallacy. What does government dependance get anyone other than less freedoms and more dependance?
Again, lets take a count of some of the “great” public sector institutions and their poor results.
Public Schools: More money spent on public education than in its history (and that is adjusted for inflation). Student scores are flat at best. And families have no freedoms or decision making power.
Medicaid: Partly responsible for the fiscal mess our nation and state governments are facing. Yet, recipients have less freedom and access to healthcare than their counterparts on private insurance plans.
Federal and state poverty systems: More individuals on Food Stamps than in our history with few programs in place to assist them to emerge from poverty.
Federal housing programs: Yep, this was a great idea! More individuals are now “house poor” than ever with foreclosure rates skyrocketing.
The primary goal of any advocacy initiative should always be to a)increase awareness, b)find temporary support systems, c)find familial and community bases support systems when possible, d)empower self determination. It is not to increase dependance on government handouts as if our family members are beggers.