The Case Against Charter Schools

School Administrator, May, 2001 by Bruno V. Manno

* Allegation No. 6: Charter schools don't adequately serve disabled children. Some disregard federal and state special education statutes. Some do not have the staff or resources to operate a quality program. Others deter the disabled from enrolling.

Some charter schools don't seem to know how to handle disabled students, and some are ill-prepared for youngsters with severe disabilities or esoteric needs. Undoubtedly, some schools have hinted to families that their disabled children might be better served elsewhere.

Just as parents of non-disabled youngsters must be clear-eyed about what a charter school will and won't do for their child--it might not, for example, allow him to play varsity football or learn Japanese--so too should the parents of disabled children be careful school shoppers. If they want the full panoply of government-mandated procedures and services, they may be happier elsewhere. If their child has a disability that requires a particular treatment, a given school--charter or otherwise--may or may not be the best place to obtain it.

Conversely, some charter schools fill particular niches for disabled youngsters. The Metro Deaf Charter School in St. Paul, Minn., enrolls only deaf students in grades K-6 and is nationally regarded as a model for the education of hearing-impaired pupils.

Charter schools are popular with those parents of disabled youngsters who have sought them out, often because such families want something distinct from the cumbersome procedures of conventional special education. In a research project in which I was involved, among the parents who indicated that their children have disabilities or other special needs, two-thirds also reported that their charter school's curriculum and teaching was better than that at the school their child would otherwise attend.

The third-year report of the U.S. Department of Education charter school study reports that "in most states, the percentage of students with disabilities in charter schools was similar to the percentage of students with disabilities in all public schools in those states." And a 1999 report on special education commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education says, "In contrast to concern expressed by disability advocates that charter schools may exclude students with disabilities, students with disabilities are not greatly under-enrolled in charter schools. In fact, rather than excluding students with disabilities, many charter schools specifically targeted these students."

Admittedly, some charter schools do not adequately serve children with special needs today. Part of the reason may be stinginess, malfeasance or insensitivity, but mostly it is due to lack of experience, expertise or resources. That this situation needs fixing does not, however, mean that greater regulatory zeal is the proper remedy.

A better solution is to make sure before issuing a charter that the school has addressed this issue in a reasonable way, that it has the staff it needs to do what it says it will do and no one is denied admission because of disability. That does not mean every charter school must accommodate every need of every disabled child. Regular public schools don't do that, either; they are apt to send a child with particular disabilities to a school across town (sometimes a private school) that is better suited to that child's needs.