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

Maureen Downey wrote at op ed piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution describing the concerns two Mercer College professors expressed regarding a piece of pending legislation in Georgia that would enable parents of special needs and 504 students to avail themselves of a scholarship program the State offers to parents enrolling in private schools under one condition: that they forfeit their special education and/or 504 rights. The professors elaborate on why that is a bad idea: 

This means that families would forgo their child’s right to being educated in the least restrictive environment, or the right to an IEP specific to their child’s needs and abilities. Beyond the major known components of IDEA are other rights that would be waived including: (a) the right to the stay-put provision in reference to as education placement issues, (b) extended school year services, (c) transition planning services, (d) the right to receive and education until the age of 22 if the student has not accumulated enough credits for graduation by their senior school year, and (d) all of the parent rights outlined in IDEA…

…(and) In essence, parents wouldn’t just be waiving their child’s rights to be educated under the protection of IDEA, they also would be waiving their own rights to fight for their child against inappropriate class placement, unfair and culturally biased assessment practices, discriminate discipline practices, and access for their child to an education program that includes teaching and training in skills beyond just academics.

Earlier in the article the two professors, Robbie J. Marsh, assistant professor of special education and Robert Helfenbein, associate dean for research and faculty affairs in the Tift College of Education at Mercer University, suggest two reasons parents of special needs students are considering leaving public schools: the lack of resources to help their children due to the persistent underfunding by the federal government and due to shortages in special education teachers. They write: 

48 states are now reporting shortages of special education teachers. This means that many students with disabilities are considered fortunate if they have access to a licensed special education teacher as either their regular teacher or teacher of record. This is only one of many issues schools are experiencing in attempting to better serve students with disabilities, so the idea of leaving the public schools and looking toward greener pastures in private schools can be very enticing…

IF the Georgia legislature wanted to help the children with special needs and their parents, instead of passing a law requiring them to waive their children’s entitlement to a free and appropriate education they would use the money they have earmarked to underwrite private (and in many cases for profit) schools to provide PUBLIC schools with the resources those children and parents are legally entitled to. Why use taxpayer dollars to underwrite schools who compel parents to sacrifice the education their children are legally entitled to while underfunding the public schools that should support them? Some states will do anything to make the system fail… even if it means special needs children and their parents have to pay the price. Georgia is the first state to try this gambit… it won’t be the last.