Jere Hochman, superintendent of the Bedford Central School District in Westchester County, New York, points out the single biggest failure of the federal government: Congress mandated special-education services but has never paid the costs of its mandate.
Consequently, it is the children who are neediest who are most often neglected and left behind.
He writes:
“The word “education” does not appear in the Constitution.
“Where education is and does belong in the Federal Government is federal law: PL 94-142 now knows as IDEA. That, and civil rights issues, ARE the stuff of federal law and jurisdiction.
“The irony is that while Mr. Duncan et al pay attention to everything else except IDEA and civil rights, the children with the greatest needs are the most unserved.
“The irony is that while Mr. Duncan et al PROMOTE charter schools, vouchers, privatization, and testing every student regardless of disability; they do nothing about those same schools and procedures as they deny and dishearten children with disabilities.
“The irony is that while Mr. Obama et al wants us all to Race to the Top after Mr. Bush et all wanted No Child Left Behind, IDEA is grossly UNDERFUNDED from the 40% “full funding” promised to states at decade ago.
“And, then there’s the Federal Catch-22 – NCLB/RTTT requires annual testing of students in grades 3-8 and HS in English, reading, mathematics, etc. And, they exempt 1% (?) of the students with disabilities from the test while the rest sit in front of exams there is on chance of them having success or feeling good about their learning.
“We’ve always had standards, testing, and data storage issues yet for some reason this has everyone riled up unnecessarily (sorry but this is all fixable) while the real problems go unaddressed. The real problems? Underfunding of IDEA. Subjecting students with disabilities and limited English to standardized tests and double standardized testing. Segregated charter schools.
“Common core standards can be fixed. It’s the federal double standards that need work. And -that’s not news – that’s since 2002 with little outcry.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You’re absolutely right. A perfect example is discrimintation with what is happening with Special Act schools. To support please go to this link and sign on!
https://www.votervoice.net/WPSBA/campaigns/35057/respond
This could be a really, really good idea. And the statement that children with disabilities are “unserved” doesn’t really capture the whole appeal. Special education costs are crushing the general education budgets of states and cities. The federal government is well-positioned to lift this burden.
I agree that funding for education is an issue. However, the inequitable provision of dollars for special education is denying New York State children with disabilities their constitutional right to a free and appropriate public education.
WE NEED 2000 NEW YORKER’S WHO CARE ABOUT
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Please
Sign this petition to support an annual school aid growth to tuition rates for Blythedale School and the other Special Act Public School Districts.
http://chn.ge/1ijydXa
Then voice your support to your local legislators and the governor
https://www.votervoice.net/WPSBA/campaigns/35057/respond
Click on both of these links to show support. Please forward to others who support the work we do and the children we serve.
Thank you,
Ellen Bergman
Superintendent
Mt Pleasant Blythedale UFSD
Superintendent
Mt Pleasant Blythedale UFSD
914.347.4228
Going to slightly disagree with Jere. The Federal commitment under the Educating All Handicapped Children Act and its successor, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was supposed to be 40% of the average additional costs imposed by the law. While it is true for most of the history of the laws, Congress had not even reached half that level, with the peak being 19% in FY 2005, during the first two years of the American Reconstruction and Reinvestment Act, aka the stimulus, for all practical purposes the promised level was met – that is, the Feds picked up about 39% of the costs.
SPED has been the true unfunded mandate in education. And there is lots about the current national administration’s educational policies worth criticizing, including in the stimulus (Race to the Top, anyone?). But credit should be given for having made a serious effort to address this long-standing problem.
I don’t want it fixed. I want it ditched. Common Core is fundamentally wrong at it’s core.
I If you want to involve more people, please don’t use acronyms without giving the full name at least once. Thank you teacherken for enlightening me about IDEA.
“Common core standards can be fixed.”
That’s a good one, Jere! Didn’t know you had that kind of sense of humor!
my sentiments exactly
The Common Core State Standards are
common in the sense of being vulgar and base, of instantiating a lot of common misconceptions about how teaching should be done in the various ELA domains;
state in the sense of being a top-down, authoritarian mandate, a prior restraint on freedom of thought about learning progressions and outcomes to be measured;
standards in the sense of mandating invariant treatment of students who differ.
The ELA “standards” are amateurish in the extreme. They need to be scrapped.
AND, they are LICENSED BY PRIVATE OWNERS.
Think about this last bit. Is that what we do in a democracy?
You had me cheering with “The real problems? Underfunding of IDEA. Subjecting students with disabilities and limited English to standardized tests and double standardized testing. Segregated charter schools” until “Common core standards can be fixed…” unless you meant fixed as in neutered or spayed (end of reproduction).