Charter schools seeking more authority over special education
Colorado charter schools serve far fewer students with disabilities than district-run schools do. The gap means those students don’t have access to the same educational opportunities as their peers, and school districts end up serving a larger share of students who require expensive services.
Colorado charter leaders say they’re willing and able to do better — if they have more authority and resources. They’re backing a bill that would let charter networks and groups of schools assume full legal responsibility for educating students with disabilities, as well as take control over state and federal funding that currently flows to school districts.
“Charter schools have simply not had access to the same legal structures that would allow them to serve greater percentages of students with disabilities,” said Dan Schaller, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools.
House Bill 1294, which received unanimous bipartisan support Thursday in the House Education Committee, is a top priority for the League. Bill sponsor state Rep. Mary Young, a Greeley Democrat and former special education teacher, said the effort represents an evolution on the part of charter schools, though she’s not sure how many ultimately will take on the substantial legal responsibilities involved.
“This bill demonstrates the commitment and interest of some charter schools to participate fully in educating special education students,” she said.
But to serve students well, the state will need to exercise strong oversight, and charter schools will need to be realistic about the costs and obligations involved, said Alex Medler, executive director of the Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers.
“If the state is going to pursue a change like this, they should explore the capacity of all stakeholders to do their jobs well and whether students would really get to be making choices,” Medler said.
About 15% of Colorado students — 134,000 pupils — attend charter schools. Publicly funded but independently run, charters can be authorized by school districts or by the state Charter School Institute. They range from Montessori and expeditionary learning schools to college preparatory and classical curriculum models.
On average, just 7.4% of Colorado charter students have what’s known as Individualized Education Programs to address disabilities. That contrasts with 11.6% of students statewide and is less than charter schools in most other states.
The reasons are complex. A recent report surveying parents of students with disabilities found some parents felt school staff discouraged them. Others said charters didn’t have the right services.
“My son is considered more high-functioning than anything, but even still, it wouldn’t be a good fit for him, but they at least told me that,” one parent who opted not to enroll her child in a charter school told researchers.
Medler said a mix of outdated stereotypes and real challenges get in the way. Some parents think charters don’t serve students with disabilities. Some charter schools want to do better but don’t have a supportive relationship with their district.
Advocates say children with disabilities deserve real choices.
“Parents want a school that welcomes their child and where their child is making progress, and sometimes their child is not making that progress in the traditional school,” said Pam Bisceglia of Advocacy Denver. “Some families say their child does really well at a particular charter school because the rituals and routines are so well defined, and for other parents, that routine is the reason their child struggles.”
Currently, the responsibility for meeting students’ educational needs lies with school districts and groups of small districts known as BOCES that have banded together to pool resources. These administrative units, as they’re known in the special education world, oversee programming, make placement decisions and bear the legal responsibility for ensuring all children get an appropriate education.
The state Charter School Institute is also considered an administrative unit.
They receive extra state and federal money for students with disabilities, but those funds cover only about 35% of the additional costs of educating those students. The rest comes from school districts’ general operating budgets.