Show Me the Money

A common scenario for any public school parent is that there are years in which the quality of teaching is not great. Most parents have to work with their kids to make it through these years in the hopes that the next year’s teacher will be better. That’s just how it is. If you are the parent of a fourth grade student without disabilities, then you have little recourse if you think the school has not done its job. You can complain to the school administration and to the school board, but most often that is as far as it goes.

If your fourth grader happens to be in special education because of a disability, then the story is quite different. Federal law allows a parent of a child with a disability to sue a school district if that parent feels that the school has not served their child. What makes these children different? The law is mostly about access to the same curriculum that other children receive. It is a civil rights law. And certainly there have been many cases where students with disabilities have been excluded from the mainstream. The law has been logically and appropriately enacted.

Where trouble starts is in the cost to the school of legal action. Since a parent can sue any time that parent believes that the school has fallen down on the job, law suits in special education are fairly common. I have had four law suits filed this year against my district, and three of them asked us to pay for private residential placements for students whose parents could not contain their behavior at home. Now, I know a number of parents who have lost control of their children for many reasons, and they have either placed the child in a residential center at their own expense, if they could afford it, or found local ways to deal with the problem. Both options have been successful for these parents, or not, in equal measures. But if the child is in special education, the parent can ask the schools to pay for the placement.

The cost of the residential placements range from $50,000 to $150,000 per year. There are few guidelines on what these type of institutions charge. This year, we have had parents place their children and then come back and ask us to pay for it. The tragedy is, and this is what keeps me up at night, is that I know these families do not know what to do with their children. I know they are looking for solutions, and a variety of people, from doctors to educational advocates, recommend these residential placements. I am also obligated to defend the district from spending money it does not have, as for each placement we lose one teacher. The state does not give us extra money for these cases.

So why is this a problem? Shouldn’t we support these families who do not have the skill or support to care for their children? When you meet these families, there is no doubt that they need assistance. There is no doubt that some of these residential placements are very good. There is also no doubt that neither the state nor the federal government give school districts any extra money for these placements.