http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/education/in-charter-schools-fewer-with-disabilities.html?src=recg"Some parents choose public schools that have more established programs for students with disabilities, while some charter schools do not have the resources or teaching staff to support individual students’ needs. But in some cases, the report said, school administrators tacitly discriminate by discouraging students with disabilities from enrolling. "
This was absolutely done at DD's former charter. Not only that, students were encouraged to leave the school when LDs were discovered. This contributes to the school's excellent test scores, which IMO are not as much about the school's quality as about cream-skimming (they also are careful about who they admit--it is a lottery, but there is also an application, and they do a lottery from those who meet the desired qualifications on the app; legal where I live). My DD does not have LDs, but I find this situation unacceptable.
I moved to an affluent suburb with good test scores so that my children will have smart, high-achieving classmates. Charters may be bending the law, but it does not bother me that their parents are trying to accomplish what we did. If admission to schools must be based on residence or a lottery, should we do away with public exam schools like Stuyvesant or Boston Latin?
I think vastly too much money is being spent on special ed. Here is a recent story on over-the-top spending.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/e...w-york-city-have-doubled-in-6-years.htmlCost of Prekindergarten Special Education Is Soaring
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
Published: June 5, 2012
New York Times
New York City is paying private contractors more than $1 billion this year to operate a little-known special education program for 3- and 4-year-olds, nearly double the amount it paid six years ago.
The program serves 25,000 children with physical, learning, developmental and other disabilities. While the number of children in the program has risen slowly in recent years, annual costs have soared to about $40,000 per child, according to an analysis of city education spending by The New York Times.
...
City officials said some of the growth in spending stemmed from more awareness of autism: some special-ed pre-K students, for example, are receiving behavior-modification therapy as many as 35 hours a week, driving their costs as high as $200,000 a year. But the officials acknowledged that autism services accounted for only part of the increase.
