The Charter
School Movement is celebrating 20 years of service to children and families. As an alternative to public schools, charter
schools are independent entities that receive public funds, without many of the
state and federal regulations as a public school district. Charter schools are also not involved with unions,
which give them autonomy over the hiring, firing, salary, and work day of staff[i].
As charter
schools aim to become a permanent fixture of the educational landscape, they
will continue to come under scrutiny by their critics, and praised by their
advocates. One primary area of
contention is student enrollment.
Critics argue that charter schools exclude certain students, whereas
public schools are mandated to serve every child. Charter school advocates argue, that as an
independent entity, they are allowed to set the enrollment criteria for
students interested in attending their school.
For a while these arguments gained very little traction or serious
consideration from the federal government. It wasn’t until a report by the Government
Accountability Office (GAO), about the lack of enrollment of students with
disabilities in charter schools captured the attention of federal and state
officials.
The GAO
Report, commissioned by Representative, George Miller from California found that charter schools don’t
enroll students with disabilities at the same rate as traditional public
schools, despite federal laws that require all publically funded schools to
serve students with disabilities[ii]. The findings of GAO report have ignited a
response from the US Education Department and the Office of Civil Rights.
According
to the report, the US Education Department has developed new procedures to help
charter schools meet federal standards for enrolling students with disabilities
and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) conducted compliance reviews of charter
schools who under serve students with disabilities. With 23 percent of charter schools nationally
serving students with disabilities, the compliance review concluded that some
charter schools may be discouraging students with disabilities from enrolling[iii].
The
findings of the GAO report and the OCR compliance review support claims made by
critics of the charter school movement. At
the same time, the report does acknowledge charter schools need more guidance
on how to meet federal standards for enrolling students with disabilities. This acknowledgement provides charter school
advocates with a small victory. The
acknowledgement also places charter schools on notice that the federal
government is monitoring the enrollment of students with disabilities.
The
involvement of the federal government is a win for students with disabilities
because it provides them choice and access to schools which pride themselves on
instruction by non-traditional designs.
It is too bad the federal government had to get involved in the first
place.
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