States that establish vouchers follow a strategy of putting the camel’s-nose-under-the-tent. They usually begin by offering a voucher for students with disabilities. Then they add a voucher for children who are low-income or a voucher for students in schools with low test scores (to “save poor children from failing schools). Then another, and another, and another until everyone is eligible for a voucher to go to a private or religious school, defunding the state’s public schools since the money follows the child.
But the students with disabilities who use a voucher take a huge risk because they abandon the protection of federal law, for which disabilities groups have worked so long. The General Accountability Office issued this warning in November 2017; now that Trump and DeVos are in charge, don’t expect to see these warnings in the future.
The Education Law Center reports:
GAO REPORT: TAKE A VOUCHER AND FORFEIT SPECIAL EDUCATION RIGHTS
By Jessica Levin
Over half of the state programs providing vouchers for private schools are targeted to students with disabilities, and proposals for new or expanded voucher programs continue to be introduced in state legislatures across the country.
Given the growth of vouchers for students with disabilities, a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the impact of vouchers on special education rights is alarming. The report, Private School Choice: Federal Actions Needed to Ensure Parents Are Notified About Changes in Rights for Students with Disabilities, issued in November 2017, found the availability and accuracy of information provided by states to parents seriously lacking. Parents are often not informed that special education rights are drastically diminished when students with disabilities use vouchers to attend private school.
Students with disabilities enrolled in public school or placed in a private school by a local education agency have robust rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The centerpiece of the federal law is the right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) with the individualized programs and services students need to access a FAPE.
In sharp contrast, students “parentally placed” in a private school – including those using vouchers – lose their right to FAPE and to receive some or all of the special education and related services public schools are legally obligated to provide under IDEA. These children also lose the right to be educated with their nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate (the “least restrictive environment” requirement) and forfeit IDEA’s procedural protections against inappropriate discipline.
In enacting voucher programs, states do little or nothing to inform parents of the legal ramifications of using vouchers. Shockingly, the GAO report concluded that “in school year 2016-17, 83 percent of students enrolled in a [voucher] program designed specifically for students with disabilities were in a program that provided either no information about changes in IDEA rights or provided information that [the U.S. Department of] Education confirmed contained inaccuracies about these changes.”
Additionally, the GAO’s review of a national sample of the websites of private schools participating in voucher programs found that no more than half even mentioned students with disabilities. Fewer than a quarter of the websites for private schools participating in voucher programs designed specifically for students with disabilities provided information on key special education issues, such as the types of disabilities served by the schools and whether teachers were trained to work with students with disabilities.
The GAO report recommends federal action. First, Congress should consider requiring states to notify parents of the changes in federal special education rights when parents place their children in a private school. The IDEA does not currently require such notice, and the U.S. Department of Education (USED) has taken the position that it has no authority to do so. Second, USED should review the information states are currently providing on changes to legal rights and protections for students in voucher programs and work with states to correct inaccuracies.
The GAO report is a stark reminder that students with disabilities forfeit many legal rights and protections when they use a voucher for private school. In highlighting the serious lack of notice about these changes, the report provides compelling support for the case against authorizing or expanding voucher programs for students with disabilities. States should not be spending scarce public dollars on voucher programs that not only fail to serve students with disabilities, but also undermine their legal rights.
Jessica Levin, Esq., is an attorney at Education Law Center. ELC is a partner in Voucher Watch with Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles.
Education Law Center Press Contact:
Sharon Krengel
Policy and Outreach Director
Diane Ravitch's blog 
States/municipalities that are unable to provide a public-school education that is adequate for a special-needs/learning-disabled child, are required to place the child into a private facility, and pay the costs. See:
Endrew F. V. Douglas County School District (2017)
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-827
If families/students are waiving/reducing their rights under IDEA, then there needs to be a legislative change in the IDEA, to correct this.
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As the article says, Charles, students abandon their rights when they take a voucher.
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Then there needs to be an amendment to the IDEA legislation, to extend the appropriate rights, when a student is forced to seek appropriate instruction, outside the public system. If anything, a special-needs student needs more rights!
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Then, no vouchers until voucher schools are required to accept all federal laws and regulations.
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What are learning-disabled children going to do in the mean time? Not all public schools are able to deliver adequate services to the learning-disabled. The Supreme Court ruled for this unanimously. When the public system is incapable, then the students must be sent to an appropriate private facility, and the state must pay.
With public dollars come oversight, that is not only fair, it should be mandatory!
The IDEA legislation can be amended, and it should be done quickly.
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Children with disabilities have enforceable rights in public schools. When they take a voucher, their rights vanish. Read the article.
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I read the article. When the public system is unable to provide an adequate education for a learning-disabled child, the child has to be placed in a non-public school. The IDEA rights provisions (as they now stand), are not providing adequate protection for these children.
The solution, is to amend the IDEA legislation, to extend rights to children who are forced out of the public school system.
Families/children should not have to choose between an adequate education, and protection of their rights.
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But Charles, the private and religious schools oppose any effort to make them subject to the same federal laws as public schools. You are whistling in the wind, as the saying goes.
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Q But Charles, the private and religious schools oppose any effort to make them subject to the same federal laws as public schools. You are whistling in the wind, as the saying goes. END Q
OK, I agree that most, if not all non-public schools are opposed to federal regulation. That is their right. BUT- If a non-public school accepts public tax dollars, they must accept the regulations that accompany the funds.
The Colorado case, shows clearly, that some (NOT ALL) public schools cannot meet the needs of the learning-disabled community. So, the special-needs children must attend a private institution, that can meet the needs. When the private school receives the funds, they must accept the accountability and oversight. This is not only fair, but it is in the best interests of the children.
No child should have to surrender their basic rights, in order to get an education.
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As I recall, the Colorado parents in the case did not want to DeVos’ poster child for choice. A state voucher would have been worth $5,000 but their child’s private school cost $50,000. How does that help them?
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Q As I recall, the Colorado parents in the case did not want to DeVos’ poster child for choice. A state voucher would have been worth $5,000 but their child’s private school cost $50,000. How does that help them? END Q
You have a slight confusion. There was a proposal to bring a voucher program into Douglas County, COLO, with a value of $4,575, that would have enabled about 500 families to receive these funds for school choice. The Colorado Supreme Court dismissed a case, which effectively killed the program. See
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/colorado-supreme-court-ends-douglas-county-school-voucher-lawsuit-a-win
Separately, but in the same county (Douglas County, COLO), the United States Supreme Court, ruled, unanimously, that since the state/county could not provide an adequate educational experience, to a learning-disabled child, that the county had to provide for the education of the child at a private facility. The costs at the private facility are about $70,000 per year (now). Advocates for special-needs children are “excited” over this decision. see
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/how-a-new-supreme-court-ruling-could-affect-special-education/520662/
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IDEA Rights, we don’t need no stinkin IDEA Rights!
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Just when I thought I couldn’t be surprised by how low they could go…
IMHO, this may be one of the most revealing postings in the history of this blog re the actual plans and programs of the corporate education reform crowd, regardless of minor differences in such matters as political coloration and personal idiosyncrasies.
Consider just a few points.
Rick Hess complains that things were worse than they should have been because he and others were ‘forced’ to ‘circle the wagons’ because of [my opinion follows] constructive public criticism based on what Mr. Hess now admits was facts and logic. It doesn’t matter to rheephormsters if democracy thrives on public discussion and transparency and accurate information. What’s important is to not take the chance of offending the tender sensibilities of privatizers and charterites and voucher-loonians by making real data available. So out with burdensome regulations that ensure openness and compassion! Better for them and theirs to keep quiet about SpecEd students losing their rights than lose access to those happy places where $tudent $ucce$$ thrives. I mean, think of all the unpleasant public discussion that would ensue if people were really—not Rheeally—informed…
😳
And then there’s the matter of “choice”…
How can the general public make informed and wise decisions when vital information is suppressed? As a general rule, for example, consider how charters don’t practice truth-in-advertising when they claim to be public schools—with the assumption on the part of the applicants that just about everyone is accepted— and then, through a process of application and interviews and lotteries and no-excuses rules and attrition aka “your child is not a good fit” show that they have a very different understanding as bureaucrats and guardians of a good ROI of what “public school” means to them and their bosses. Hint: remember all those attrition rates between entering and graduating students? [The charter chant: Beware the test-suppressors!]
Last point. The “no excuses” crowd left out a few words: “we have no excuses for being lazy.”
[Note: I want to make it clear that some charter teachers and staff try, against all odds, to do their best—until, of course, they are fired for various reasons, including speaking out or because after a year or two they are ‘too senior and experienced’ and must be replaced by cheaper newbies. I am speaking in what follows about top admins and owners.]
Leaving SpecEd students defenseless relieves the chief beneficiaries and enforcers and peddlers of rheephorm from having to actually work hard to fulfill any of their wildly unrealistic promises. Time and energy and pr and political capital and Benjamins are best spent on ensuring a healthy and happy return on that special brand of ROI called $tudent $ucce$$. After all, you’ve got to have priorities…
😱
I could go on but this missive is long enough already…
😎
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KTA,
There is such a thing as being right too soon. Then those who were wrong get angry because you said they were wrong. Now that they secretly know they are wrong and were wrong all along, they blame the critics who said they were wrong. They would have admitted error sooner if no one had disagreed.
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dianeravitch: you have summed up, better than anything I have ever read, the “magical thinking” of the corporate education reform crowd.
If I may: you can get stunningly high quality results and needed course corrections if you don’t talk about, think about, or discuss anything that makes you uncomfortable or dubious. At least, if you don’t do that PREMATURELY…
😜
This is in line with the recent classic by Mr. Michael J Petrilli explaining how all can be set right in the world of education if one just employs: “the magic of competition.”
One last note: the silence from the world of rheephorm on this is deafening. After years and years and years of monitoring folks like you and being the shot callers and dealmakers of “creative disruption” and having their own way despite “rookie mistaks” [Ref Rodriguez and John Deasy in LAUSD] etc., they’re completely oblivious to the unfolding of this latest chapter in their playbook, ‘THE ART OF THE STEAL”?
I – don’t – think – so.
😎
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This is the scariest part of the DeVos agenda.
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In Indiana, the voucher law actually allows for the removal of parental rights in regard to contesting placement decisions and disciplinary actions for special education students who utilize the IN Choice Scholarship Program (vouchers.)
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As the parent of a multiply involved Deaf adult with special needs, the irony in this is appalling. While my son was still of school age, I moved to three different states in pursuit of a school that could meet his even his most basic communication needs in ASL. Without ASL, he had no access. Period.
While FAPE is a terrific concept, there is actually not a whole lot of teeth attached to it under IDEA. Many parents don’t realize that “adequate progress” does not equate with a cadillac program, or the right to a different school that will enable a child to realize their potential. Even so, the rights under IDEA are what parents must fall back on when an IEP is not properly developed or followed through on.
It is imperative that parents of special needs children are fully aware of what they are giving up when they take advantage of the so-called benefits of vouchers, especially in light of DeVos’ agenda…thank you for sharing this.
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What a great plan for the “education” corporations!
Take a defenseless kid without the ability to articulate what’s happening, make sure parents don’t know their rights or lack of, scoop up public monies without any extra expenditures to educate special needs kids, prevent parents from having any say in regards to discipline or placement.
A dream come true for scoundrels, pedophiles, and psychotics.
Can we all say MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!
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