Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

apple.news/AWY4OLS9eQsa02GllNmUfwQ

A charter chain in Utah was forced to return $2,700,000 in Special Ed funds because they failed to comply with the state and federal guidelines. Their CEO’s defense for this was that the schools were NOT pushing the limits of compliance, they were attempting to implement the kind of “innovation” the Utah State Board was encouraging. To their credit, the State Board did not view the hiring of unqualified paraprofessionals or the spending of Special Education funds on general education as an “innovation” they would support. There is a reason for Special Education spending guidelines: they are in place to ensure that schools use the supplemental funds for special needs students ONLY for them and to ensure that those funds are used to pay for qualified teachers and staff. Violation of those guidelines in no way precludes “innovation”… though it MIGHT preclude profit.