Rep. Eric Feige: It's OK for Private Schools to Discriminate Against Special Education Students

The House Education Committee moved HB 145, the private school voucher bill (http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20145&session=27)  out of committee on Wednesday, February 1, after hours and hours of testimony over the last two sessions.  The bill requires the state to pay up to 100 percent of both the state and local contribution for education funding to a private school.


Private schools would not be subject to AS 14.07.070, which withholds funds to districts and teachers that fail to comply with state laws and regulations relating to education, basically giving private schools carte blanche to do anything they want with the funding and not be constrained by the same rules governing public schools.


Included in the funding for private schools is funding that a student would receive if they were attending the public school district in which the private school is located, including:

• School Size Factor funding, which is based on the size of the public school, without regard to the size of the private school that the student is attending;
• District Cost Factor funding;
• Quality School Funding Factor that was earned by the performance of the public school, without regard to the actual performance of the private school;
• 20 Percent Block Grant Funding Factor for serving special education, gifted and talented, vocational education,  and bilingual services - but private schools won't be required to provide any of these services, even though they will be receiving funding for them;
• 1 Percent Block Grant Funding Factor for serving High School vocational and technical education needs - but private schools won't be required to provide this service.  

Under HB 145, private schools reserve the right to choose to enroll or not enroll any student for any reason.   An amendment offered by Rep. Peggy Wilson in the House Education Committee that would have prohibited private schools from discriminating based on race, religion, disability, or any other reason failed.


Even sponsor Rep. Wes Keller agreed that HB 145 will allow private schools to choose which students they admit, for any reason.  A Baptist school could choose not to admit a Catholic student, a Norwegian school could choose not to admit a Swede, An Aleut school could choose not to admit a Tlingit, and they could all choose not to admit any special education students.


Rep. Eric Feige said that's fine though, because special education students already have the option to attend public schools.


Rep. Paul Seaton objected to the fact that they were spending so much time on a bill that wasn't even constitutional.

A Guide to Special Education Advocacy

I came across A Guide to Special Education Advocacy, by Matthew Cohen by chance on the new books shelf at the Mendenhall Valley Library here in Juneau. It has detailed up-to-date information on the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA and the IDEA 2006 regulations. This book should be very helpful to any parent trying to advocate for their child, as well as classroom and special education teachers and administrators because of the detailed information on federal regulations regarding IDEA and Section 504, with specific CFR citations.

The book also contains a comparison of Section 504 plans versus IDEA 2004.  It dispels the idea that Section 504 is only applicable to students with health issues, and explains when one is preferable to the other. "Each law has advantages for children with disabilities depending on the circumstances of the child, the school, and the particular issue. At the most general level, IDEA is more likely to be of use to children who require a greater intensity of specialized instructional services and/or related services, who have more complex needs, and/or when there is a greater need for specificity in planning for the child, protecting the child’s procedural rights, or holding the school accountable regarding issues of implementation. By contrast, Section 504 is typically of greater utility if the child’s needs are less complex, if the child has a disability that does not qualify him or her for special education, or when the child needs only accommodations, as opposed to special education" (p. 236).