As charter schools grow in popularity, it’s important to ensure that special-needs children have just as much opportunity to attend them as other students.
A story written by Post reporters Jeremy Meyer and Burt Hubbard raised questions about whether that is the case in Colorado.
The story, published Saturday, showed that 6.9 percent of students enrolled in charters in 2007-08 had identified disabilities, as compared to 9.7 percent in all schools.
We would like to see that gap close, and encourage a task force and committee looking at the matter to come up with solid suggestions to that end.
The likely reasons for the discrepancy are varied, complex and ultimately difficult to pin down. And while we’d like to see the gap close, what officials really need to focus on is ensuring that special-needs kids are being served and treated fairly.
Education officials tell us they have heard of charters engaging in “counseling out” students. That means school officials informally discouraging parents from enrolling at the school.
Such a practice is illegal. Students with disabilities must have the same opportunities to meet charter admissions requirements as other students and should not be steered elsewhere.
However, that equation is complicated by the laws governing the placement of special-needs students. The process ultimately is governed by that student’s individualized education plan, created by a child’s school, and a district special education director’s decision as to how that plan, and child, is best served.
We’re told there is a practice among a few school districts of limiting the charter schools that certain special-needs children can attend and instead directing them to district programs and centers. That practice raises questions as well.
Answers may be in the offing. A special education advisory committee, convened by the state, has been working on a position paper warning districts and charter schools about possibly discriminatory acts as they deal with special-needs issues.
The issue of placement of special- needs students is one that balances the rights of students and parents to choose a setting that’s right for the child against the obligations that schools have to provide services on a cost-effective basis.
To be sure, the proportion of students with disabilities who attend charter schools has been increasing.
In 2004-05, the percentage was 6.8; in 2001, it was 6.4 percent; and in 1997, it was 6 percent, according to a state Department of Education report. It’s good to see those numbers moving in the right direction, but progress has been too slow.
Charters and the districts that authorize them need to do a better job of ensuring that children with disabilities are getting a fair shake when it comes to charter schools.
The promise of choice is one that ought to be extended equally to all students, including those with disabilities.
