FW: Speical Ed Efforts Faces Shake-Up/ New Spec Ed Report

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Speical Ed Efforts Faces Shake-Up/ New Spec Ed Report

EDUCATION

Also: * New Report on Spec Education Released, NEW IDEA Newsltter

* Auction Bids To Help Autism Center, Ct.

* Reader’s Posts

Special Ed Effort Faces Shake-Up

The L.A. district will follow federal law and severely limit funding for

SpecEd students who attend private schools.

[The article reports that these cut backs are happening because “the

number of beneficiaries has ballooned to more than 6 million nationwide.”

We can expect more of these attempts to cut corners around the country as

the autism, ADHD, asthma, and other possible immune disorder epidemics

continue their spread. By Martha Groves in the LA Times.]

Weylin Etra had spent more than two years at a private school in Santa

when his teacher and parents spotted some serious physical and

learning problems.

His parents had him assessed at their local Los Angeles Unified School

District campus, and within months Weylin began receiving weekly

occupational therapy and special education classes--all courtesy of the

district and even as he continued happily to attend private school.

But Weylin, now 9, and his family are about to face a tough

educational choice. Under a new policy that belatedly brings the district

into line with federal law, children whose parents opt to send them to

private schools will no longer qualify for such expansive free

services--unless they enroll in public school.

L.A. Unified's shift will affect hundreds of families for whom the

district has been using federal funds to pick up the special education tab.

Most of them will be eligible to receive only a few hours of consultation

during the school year.

The change is intended to even out a financial disparity: Special

education students in private schools have been receiving about 10% of the

district's earmarked federal funds, even though they account for fewer than

1% of the special education students the district is required to serve.

In many cases, parents who can afford private school tuition or

special classes, but not both, are having to ponder changes fraught with

emotional consequences for their learning-disabled youngsters, whose

differences are often more accepted at intimate private schools than they

would be at public campuses.

" It's not just, " said Sister Supple, director of federal and

state programs for the schools of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los

Angeles. " Our parents pay taxes the same way that other children's parents

pay taxes. They are in a sense discriminated against because parents have

placed them in a private school.”

Critics realize that they are bucking not just L.A. Unified but also

the federal government.

In 1997, during the Clinton administration, Congress amended and

reauthorized the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, a

quarter-century-old law that drives most special education policy in the

United States.

One amendment was designed to clarify what the government has said was

its long-standing position on local districts' responsibilities to provide

therapies and special education classes for private school pupils.

The government's view was that children in private schools by their

parents' choice are entitled to only a very small share of federal funds--in

proportion with the number of qualifying students--to cover special

education services.

Undergirding that view was the philosophy, still widely embraced by

voters, that federal funds should be used primarily in public schools.

Nonetheless, many districts--and courts--had long interpreted the

federal law to mean that the districts had to provide a full range of

services for qualifying private school children, even if the parents made

the decision to put the children into private school.

Still other districts, even though they believed they were not

required to provide services, had chosen to collaborate with parents and

private schools to make suitable arrangements for pupils in need.

In many of those cases, said W.D. , a Virginia attorney

who represents children with disabilities, the districts " went above and

beyond " to avoid being sued by parents who could have sought reimbursement

for the full cost of private school tuition and special education services.

In March 1999, the government issued regulations outlining local

districts' responsibilities. Since then, districts nationwide have worked to

draft policies to comply with the federal law.

" We are perhaps one of the last districts in California to finally

implement a private school policy, " said Myra Booker, the district's

coordinator for private school special education services. " We are simply

following the federal mandate.”

Education watchers generally agree that IDEA has had positive effects.

The law has helped reduce discrimination against disabled youngsters and

provided millions of students with a " free, appropriate " public education in

the " least restrictive environment, " a guiding goal.

More students with disabilities are graduating from high school and

going on to college. Previously, in what now seems like the Dark Ages for

education, many students with disabilities were shuffled into special

institutions or barred from school.

Yet the program has had a huge cost, only a small portion of

which--about 15% in 2000--has been covered by the federal government.

Moreover, critics say, the program has become mired in red tape as the

number of beneficiaries has ballooned to more than 6 million nationwide.

Districts and parents often lock horns in legal battles--as their lawyers'

meters run--over how children can best be served.

The district's annual survey found that 82,618 children who live

within L.A. Unified boundaries were eligible for special education services

in 2000. Of those, 879 attended private schools, and 642 actually received

services through the district. Of the district's total federal allocation of

$57.5 million for special education, $5.7 million was spent on those 642

students. More than three-quarters of the money--$4.4 million--went to pay

for transportation.

Under the district's new policy requiring proportional funding, only

$612,000 would have been spent last year on special education students in

private schools. That would have covered at most 10 hours a year of

consultation for each child's parents and private school teacher.

L.A. Unified's new policy does not affect children in public schools

who are receiving special education services. Nor does it affect those who

have been placed in state-certified private special education schools at

their public district's recommendation. The district generally pays the

tuition in such cases.

The policy also does not alter the right of private school parents to

have their child assessed for disabilities at their local public school. The

policy would kick in only when the child was deemed to need special

services.

Booker said parents of disabled children are being notified of the new

policy as their yearly meetings with their child's special education team

come up.

In the case of Weylin Etra, who attends PS No. 1 in Santa , that

will be October. Peggy Etra, his mother, said the family is not sure what to

do.

" Our assumption at this point is we'll keep him at PS No. 1, " she

said. " We will have to figure out financially what we can do out of pocket

for his special needs. We certainly won't be going out to dinners and

movies. We're starting to see life through a dollar sign.”

Special education services would cost thousands of dollars, on top of

tuition for Weylin and his younger sister, who will begin kindergarten at PS

No. 1 in the fall.

The important thing, Etra said, is for Weylin, who was diagnosed with

" visual motor integration " problems, to be content at school.

" He's accepted at PS No. 1, " Etra said. " Public school is different.

He would be in the 'slow' class, and he would be teased.”

Etra said the family might also request a hearing from the district

into whether it can offer Weylin a free, appropriate education, given his

learning differences.

When a family makes such a request, the district is obligated to leave

services in place until the disagreement has been resolved through mediation

or a hearing, a process that can take several months. Given the complexity

and adversarial nature of special education law, many families find it

necessary to hire a lawyer to help navigate this procedure. But Etra said

her family is tapped out, given the legal fees they paid when they first

sought services for Weylin.

Booker said the district has received about 20 requests for these " due

process " hearings since the private school policy took effect in February.

Very few families, she said, have chosen to enroll their children in public

schools.

The matter almost certainly will end up in court, special education

attorney said.

* * *

New Report on Special Education Released, NEW IDEA Newsltter

The Fordham Foundation and the Progressive Policy Institute have

jointly published a new volume of 14 papers examining federal education

policy. The papers entitled, Rethinking Special Education for a New Century,

identify problems in special education, analyze the sources of the problems,

and suggest some solutions.

This report is available online at: http://www.edexcellence.net/

This item comes from a new publication, IDEA News, which can be found

at http://www.ideapractices.org/IDEAnewsonline.htm Thanks for the find and

a happy father’s day to Lee Grossman.

* * *

Auction Bids To Help Autism Center, Ct.

[by Spinelli.]

http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?p20062982

Milford - It's only a small footstool, made in a simple design of wood

and painted white, not exactly a piece of furniture costing $230.

But the little footstool is a rare treasure for Suzanne Letso, chief

executive officer and co-founder of the Connecticut Center for Child

Development.

The stool includes the painted-on names of every child who last year

attended the school for autistic children at 925 Bridgeport Ave. Children

from all over the state, as well as from New Jersey and New York, are among

the students.

This is very special to me because it has all the children's names,

Letso said with pride while holding up the piece for a visitor to admire. I

got it at our annual auction last year.

Treasures such as that and many others that even someone with no

attachment to the school would appreciate will again be available, as the

center prepares for its fourth annual benefit auction this Sunday.

The major fund-raiser for the school will be conducted at the Pyramid

Shriners, 349 Wheeler's Farms Road.

Auction items include the work of local artists, trips, television

show and concert tickets, sports memorabilia, jewelry and professional

services.

I'm so excited, there are tickets to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,'

said Letso, referring to the popular TV quiz show starring Regis Philbin.

+ Article continues at: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?p20062982

* * *

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