DeVos highlights progress for students with disabilities

You know you’re getting old when you start a column “when I was a kid.” Don’t worry; the following is not a wistful remembrance of better times, but an acknowledgement of the progress schools have made in the education of students with disabilities since I was a kid. There is still room for improvement, as U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos noted Wednesday during her visit to Denver. Colorado lawmakers will have an opportunity next session to consider reforms that can do just that.

But before we look ahead, let’s look at where we’ve been.

In 1970, the year I was born, only one in five children with disabilities was educated in public schools. In fact, some state laws actually excluded students with certain disabilities from the classroom.

Court decisions in 1971 and 1972 made it clear that states and localities had to educate students with disabilities. A few years later, Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), which further clarified the rights of students to receive a free appropriate public education.

While more students with disabilities were receiving a public education by the time I was in elementary school, many of these students were educated in separate classrooms without any interaction with other students.

Fortunately, subsequent court cases and legislation established the right to receive an education in the least restrictive environment. Today, many students with disabilities are educated alongside their nondisabled peers with the support of an aid, technology, additional tutoring and/or accommodations. Even students with severe disabilities who receive much of their daily instruction in a specialized environment have the opportunity to spend some time with their nondisabled peers. Mainstreaming helps students see people with disabilities as part of the community where everyone has strengths and limitations.

Thanks to the hard work of classroom teachers, special education teachers, aides, and parents, academic achievement for students with disabilities and graduation rates have improved significantly since the 1970s.

Still, not every child with a disability is well served in a public school setting. In these cases, the school district may pay the student’s tuition at a private school. However, not every student who could benefit from a private program has that opportunity, since the district can refuse that option.

This may change. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that education plans for disabled students must be “appropriately ambitious” to enable them to advance academically.

The case involved an autistic student in Douglas County. His parents grew frustrated with his lack of educational progress and enrolled him in a specialized school, Firefly Autism. The parents sued the district for tuition reimbursement. The Supreme Court remanded the case to the 10th Circuit in light of the higher standard it set for academic progress. The lower court will decide whether the district will have to reimburse the tuition.

It’s not surprising that the education secretary, a school choice advocate, chose Firefly as the site of her visit to Denver this week as part of her Rethink Schools multistate tour. She said that parents should be able to choose the best environment for their children, and that “They shouldn’t have to sue their way to the Supreme Court.”

She’s right.

Next spring, the Colorado legislature can act to ensure parents don’t have to go to court to secure a private placement. Lawmakers can enact a voucher program for students with disabilities as nine other states have already done. In these states, parents can choose the public or private school that best meets their child’s needs.

The U.S. has come a long way in the education of students with disabilities. But even the best public school is not the best fit for every student. By creating additional options we can continue to make advancements in the education of all students. Mac Tully, CEO and Publisher; Justin Mock, Senior VP of Finance and CFO; Bill Reynolds, Senior VP, Circulation and Production; Judi Patterson, Vice President, Human Resources; Bob Kinney , Vice President, Information Technology