Audit finds wide enrollment disparities, particularly in charter schools

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Many public schools in New Orleans, particularly charter schools, show significant underrepresentation of students with disabilities, according to a report by state officials. At some charter schools in the Recovery School District, fewer than 4 percent of students are reported to have disabilities, as compared with a district-wide average of about ten percent.

The report has prompted criticism from advocates who charge that some schools are practicing discrimination by advising students with disabilities to go elsewhere. Educators defend the schools, saying the district’s open enrollment policy makes some degree of variation inevitable. An excerpt:

… in some cases it’s easy to sympathize with both the parents and the schools: Families have every right to full services, but schools cannot  always get the money and staff they need to provide them.

See related post: Opinion: Open charter doors to students with disabilities

Harvard University professor Thomas Hehir, writing in Education Week, calls for action to make sure that students with disabilities have access to charter schools. Presently, he says, students with special needs are conspicuously underrepresented in such schools.

Hehir, who served as director of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of special education programs in the Clinton administration, says officials should develop policies to assure that charters are not discriminating against students with disabilities.

He recommends increased monitoring of charters, enforcement of civil rights protections, financial sanctions against charters which fail to enroll equitable shares of students with disabilities, and support to assist schools in serving students with diverse needs. An excerpt:

The charter school movement shows much promise, and is providing important choice options within the American education system. It’s time to assure that all children benefit from it.