Supreme Court: public must pay for private special ed schooling.
The kicker… even if they never tried the public program. Is it me, teachers, or does that kind of suck?
Comments
I’d have to read details of the case first, but honestly the fact that it was a 6-3 decision rather than the usual straight up ideological divide of 5-4 leads me to believe there’s a little more legalese involved here that I’m missing.
Also, I’m sure it depends a lot on the circumstances. Special ed encompasses a lot of different issues and needs and the public school may be saying their school provides those needs but it may very well not.
I’m a massive public school advocate so my inclination is to always try and support the public school. However given what we see with Dylan and his needs and what have you as well as other kids with similar or worse issues, I know there’s a whole range of different factors that could be at play here.
Let me give you an example. If I want to send Dylan to the public school special ed program, and I say he needs certain medical attention throughout the day, or that he needs an aide with him and the school says they don’t need to provide that, then I’m not going to roll the dice and try that school just to see how he does. I’m not saying that’s what happened here, but just an example of what COULD be involved.
I’m pretty sure that’s been the case the whole time. This is not news to me.
Also, Kevin V., I’m not really sure about Dylan’s particulars, but unless his “condition” impacts his ability to learn you’re dealing with a 504 case, not Special Ed (IEP). We’re talking cognitive processes there.
A 504 Plan is different in that it’s a Civil Rights Act legislation wherein medical disabilities must be attended to in order to enable the student to perform as well as any other student. Once you get into cognitive (or other) impairment that significantly inhibits or affects the student’s ability to learn or process things, THEN you have a case for an IEP. Technically speaking, ADD/ADHD are medical issues that can be mitigated by way of 504. When paired with a learning disability, however, the student becomes eligible for special ed.
Or at least that’s what we tell parents.
The age he’s at, they can’t really tell yet. He’s obviously delayed on a lot of stuff (some physical stuff, lots of speech stuff) but at this point they can’t tell if his delays are cognitive/learning disabilities and what is just because his physical conditions and/or his early environment (hospitalization, etc.). I’m not saying his situation is totally applicable, just vaguely tying it to what could possibly be going on with this case.
And using it as an example was more a matter of subjectivity in that what the school and the system SAYS is an adequate environment and what some parents feel is actually an adequate environment may not be one in the same. In some cases that may just be ridiculously overbearing parents (which I’ve seen plenty of) and in other cases it can be legitimate concerns that just get lost in the system because the parents don’t know what their rights are and/or what to advocate for on behalf of their kids.
Our situation is more a matter of making me realize that there are a ridiculous amount of layers and aspects to this subject than it was a matter of us being in that situations.
Fair enough. I was just pointing it out, for the sake of actually knowing something about something for once.
IEPs and getting kids tested/classified is a pretty hot-button issue right now, and a lot of (but not necessarily you, savvy guy) parents don’t really know their options. I figured I’d lay it out for your consideration, when it needs considering.
Some of the people with whom I work push to get kids declassified on the basis that their hardships are actually medical in nature rather than cognitively-based. There is a push to get Special Ed numbers down throughout the state, surely in large part because of classification abuse in the past. Ultimately, getting a student out of Special Ed is the measure of the success of your Special Ed programs, so a lot of the time “we” look to get kids out rather than get kids in.
Well, we’re lucky in that everyone involved is about 98% sure that everything he’s delayed on is physically related to his conditions which he has either had fixed or grown/will grow out of. Because on every other standard he’s at his age level or advanced. But NJ has an awesome early intervention system and our school district has a really good plan/program. We don’t want him to be in special ed longer than he needs to be, and for now it’s just pre-school so it’s not a big deal. But they (the state of NJ and our district) are so far doing an awesome job to make sure that in 2 years when he’s 5 and ready for school that he hits the ground running.
But there are just so many layers to the situation in terms of the law, in terms of each state and district, in terms of the opinions and assesements of the educators themselves, and of parents and their varying degrees of both awareness of their rights, and/or overprotectiveness. I consider my wife and I to be fairly savvy, educated, and knowledgable and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to have someone point out for us and help us fight for what we didn’t even know we had coming to us and had a right to. So I can’t fathom how many parents and kids just get completely steamrolled by the system and lost in the shuffle.
Absolutely. By law you should walk out of an IEP or eligibility meeting with a PRIZE book, or parents’ rights book. In order to conserve paper, and under the pretense that parents probably got them upon initial classification, we don’t seem to hand out PRIZE books by default; it’s in some fine print in the IEP that parents are welcome to request one at any time.
If you’ve seen an IEP, you know that they can be up to 20 pages thick. It’s easy to miss that sentence.
In my experience, child study team members are trying to help, and will answer your questions sincerely and as fully as they are competent to do so. In truth, anything less would be illegal. I don’t often see cases in which I think parents should seek an outside advocate, but it happens from time to time.
The fact that you’re directly and actively involved places you well above the average for my last three years, sadly.
So what does this say about crappy school districts in general? Can a parent in Philadelphia send his kid to private school and ask the city to pay for it because the public schools are crap and the kid isn’t learning anything, regardless of special needs?
No. I think you’re misunderstanding (although what you’ve suggested was basically McCain’s education reform platform).
The nature of some people’s disabilities is so severe or unique that a public school setting is inappropriate in that it can’t realistically be expected to meet their needs. If you suffer from a condition that affects 1 in 150,000 people or so and you live in a town of only 30,000 it seems statistically unreasonable and fiscally impractical for your town’s public school to keep a full-time position to cater to the highly unlikely few cases that arise every few years or so.
To this end, your needs cannot be realistically met and your district becomes obligated to allocate funds for you to attend a specialized school that caters more specifically to the needs of low-incidence cases. Often it is a regional program, which means they also pay for bussing to where ever your kid has to go.
I really don’t think this is that big a deal. In my opinion, it’s naturally logical; your taxes fund the schools, and if they can’t meet the highly specialized needs of your student, it should still be on them to make amends. Though I may disagree with how public schools are funded in the first place, this policy is one of social welfare. Surely none of us bleeding hearts can be against it.