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Now, I am in favor of special education for children with disabilities. I attended school at a time when these children were assigned to “special” schools or handed over to the general student population to sink or swim alone. It was a terrible injustice. Finally, it was addressed in the 1970s with a law designed to correct such discrimination by granting these children the civil right to equal opportunities to learn. The law covers children from birth to 22 years of age, guaranteeing them the right to a free and “appropriate” public education. It is the ambiguous word “appropriate” written in the law that is creating a crisis in California schools, according to Nanette Asimov, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The article cited the situation of a child with a disability. The assigned public middle school offered special college prep classes, daily help from a special education expert, a laptop, extra time for tests, the opportunity to temporarily drop out of class if the child had an anxiety attack, and a Special defender to smooth out any problem. problems with teachers.

Instead, the parents hired a special consultant, who found alternative education opportunities – all were private schools, and all were out of state. They settled in a boarding school in Maine, on the outskirts of the main city, which had a tenth of the enrollment of the school population. The only thing this school did not offer was a special education program. The mother said that smaller classrooms and a smaller campus were more important than a special education program. Since the possibility of anxiety attacks was mentioned in the article, no one can truly judge the merit of this situation except the child’s doctor and / or psychologist.

After the child was placed in the private school, the parents hired an attorney, who specializes in special education cases, to file documents with the court demanding that California schools pay for four years of tuition and travel costs. of the family between California and Maine. Tuition was $ 30,000 a year. California schools are making the demands.

This is just one such case in California schools, which may or may not be justified. The problem is that it is not the only case. In 2005, there were 3,763 children with disabilities in California schools who were the focus of formal complaints, the vast majority of which came from parents. This is triple the number from just ten years ago, and the numbers are growing.

With a cost of nearly $ 40,000 to go to a court hearing and the possibility of a costly trial, California schools try to resolve cases before they go that far. In 2005, ten percent of California school cases went to a full hearing – 386 in all. The remaining 90 percent were resolved through confidential agreements. With 700,000 special needs students currently in California schools and already paying hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for private placements, the school system is headed for a financial crisis.

In 2004, California schools received $ 4.1 billion for special education from the government and local sources. It was still not enough to pay for these additional settlement costs, and California schools had to take $ 1.6 billion from the regular class budget. Twenty-eight percent of special education spending that year came from the regular education budget.

California school educators complain that parents who can afford an attorney are assured of more opportunities for their children than those who cannot, creating a disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Additionally, special education teachers see the benefits of special programs, such as horseback riding therapy, but recognize that such demands from parents are unrelated to education. California school parents and educators disagree.

Parents are making tuition demands on California schools for programs such as private day schools, boarding schools, summer camps, horseback riding therapy, and aquatic therapy. Additionally, California schools are expected to pay for computers, airfare, car rentals, hotel stays, meals, new clothing and tailoring for the children, cell phone calls, stamps, gasoline and tolls, and future roundtrip visits. back from the moment of registration. until the kids graduate from high school.

In total, California schools are paying billions of dollars each year for private investments and ancillary costs. It is creating an inequity for children that the civil rights law was passed to protect and a financial crisis for California schools.

I have to admit that I wanted every possible opportunity for my son to live a happy and normal adult life. I had a son with special needs and spent many hours sitting in the principals’ offices and on the school board demanding that his needs be met. I was grateful that I had access to the offerings available within the public school system.

However, in my opinion, it is not a right or wrong expense, a justified expense or not. It’s about legislators going back and specifically defining the word “appropriate.” Until then, California schools are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, which means fewer opportunities in every way.

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