New Orleans charter schools struggle to meet special education needs
Two years after charter schools began taking over the city's education landscape, they serve, on average, significantly fewer special education students than traditional schools. The vast majority of students arrive without any paperwork, and the charter schools lack the built-in administrative and financial support of a more centralized system. Some charter schools across the country have struggled to offer strong special education programs on their own. And no one argues that the special education system always ran smoothly under the old Orleans Parish schools bureaucracy or in the current Recovery School District. But growing and strengthening the charter school programs is particularly critical in New Orleans, where more than half of the city's public school students attend charter schools. “There's a sense of real urgency,” said Matt Candler, chief executive officer of New Schools for New Orleans, a nonprofit that provides support to many of the city's charter schools and is currently supporting a survey of the charter schools' special education programs. “We're very emphatic in saying, ‘It doesn't matter how well your school runs. If you don't serve children who have special education needs well, you jeopardize the whole charter movement.’” In a fall letter to all Recovery School District charter schools, Superintendent Paul Vallas reminded them that about 10% of their students should receive special education services or they could violate their contracts with the state. Vallas said he thinks both the main roster of Recovery District schools and the charters are doing a much better job this year than last year. But he noted: “The charters know we have to adhere to special education mandates. If they don't, we're going to be facing one big class-action lawsuit. ... They know, and we know, that the clock is ticking.”
Part of the issue comes down to money: Providing strong special education services is not always financially advantageous—or even feasible—for charter schools. While a typical urban school system might have a special education administrator who oversees services for 6,000 students, for instance, a typical charter school might have 60 special education students, but would still need an administrator who knows the technicalities of complicated special education laws. Schools that are individually run can't take advantage of the economies of scale present in larger school systems. Overall, said Rob Logan, director of charter schools for the Recovery District, many charter schools need more assistance with special education. “We need other people to step up, whether they are national corporations or national nonprofits,” he said.
The five traditional Orleans Parish School Board schools, many of which have selective admissions, had an average of close to 7% special education students in December, while the School Board's charter schools averaged about 4%. Activists report they are hearing fewer complaints this year of charter schools outright turning away special education children, but they say some charter operators have found subtle ways to discourage children with special needs from staying. “I've heard of cases where charter schools have taken special education students and then gently encouraged them to leave because they can't provide the services,” said Karran Harper Royal, an activist on special education issues. Recovery School District charter schools can pay the district to provide help with special education services. But the district already has its hands full. Gradually, some new services are coming online to help charter schools. “By the end of the year, we will have addressed all kinds of issues,” Vallas said.
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1/5/08, By Sarah Carr