Special Education Woes
Posted Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 10:28 am
I think the WSJ has a thing against the practice of “mainstreaming” in special education, but there is also some valid concern raised by this article. I think it has less to do with mainstreaming and more to do with funding & real educational accountability, but read the article and give me your thoughts.
We haven’t gotten that stage yet with Isa, but based on what we’ve experienced so far in terms of BS & hoop-jumping, I can only imagine what the next stage is like to perform on.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:20 pm
You are LA Unified right? If so you can expect a lot of hassles! I have younger brothers still in school with one of them being a special needs child and it has been hassle after hassle fighting against the special needs dept of LA unified. It has gotten to the point that I told my dad I would help him pay for private schools if it gets worst.
If I was you I would start researching early and talk to other parents in the same circumstance and see what they have to say. Good luck!
August 21st, 2007 at 9:16 pm
HP
- Yeah, LAUSD. She isn’t even 2 yet, but we’re starting to gear up for the fight.
I’d wish this issue would get addressed by the school choice/charter school options, but sadly, special education is the one thing that school choice probably wouldn’t correct. I only know of one special educatoin charter school in the LA area - The CHIME Institute - but it is in Woodland Hills. Not exactly ‘mi barrio.’
So, when you’re done paying for your brother’s private school, I’ll hit you up for a donation for Isa
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
True vouchers could easily address the problem. For example, we could give larger vouchers to students with learning disabilities.
By we I mean the government, of course.
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Most CA school districts don’t have enough money to pay for all the special ed. services they’re required to provide and still serve the non-special ed. students well. It’s not just a question of how the pie is sliced, it’s that we need a bigger pie.
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Kathy - That’s the part, quite honestly, that most confounds me. What does it say about the strength or credibility of the ‘law & order’ argument when HP, I mean, the gov’t enacts laws that it doesn’t then enforce or fulfill?
HP - Once again, I’m buying the “true voucher” argument. May it be so. I just fear that the true voucher program will never be enacted, and that the cheap substitute will only continue to dis-serve the under-served - the poor and the disabled.
I worry that budget delays - like the one that just resolved itself after a 2 month delay - will hold hostage a good idea like giving larger vouchers to special needs students. And that the special needs of special needs students will be evaluated & compromised annually in a way that mainstream students won’t be evaluated.