School Choice and Special Needs

by Benjamin Hoak

How do Owensboro and Daviess County's special needs systems measure up?

Kentucky Performance Reports from the Kentucky Department of Education indicate how well school districts in the state are meeting their special needs goals as set by the federal No Child Left Behind law. Goals have been set relatively low until now, said Cindy Baumert, an advocate for special needs students. But beginning in 2008, the goals increase sharply until 2014, when 100 percent of students should be learning at grade level or above, she said.

Even though a district may be meeting state and federal goals, “the academic achievement of students with disabilities such that they can successfully enter postsecondary education or employment is not a pretty picture,” Baumert said. “These kids are sold short because it takes something more creative than assembly-line schools and teaching for these children to learn.”

Owensboro Public Schools and Daviess County Public Schools are both meeting their special needs goals thus far, though there is still an “achievement gap” between students with special needs and those without.

In fourth grade reading in the spring of 2006, 16 percent of Owensboro Public School students with disabilities were not proficient, while 11 percent of students without disabilities were not proficient, a gap of five points. In Daviess County fourth grade reading, 22 percent of students with disabilities were not proficient compared to 10 percent of students without disabilities who were not proficient. That’s a gap of 12 points between the two groups.

However the gap is larger for older students. In tenth grade reading in the spring of 2006, 61 percent of Owensboro students with disabilities were not proficient, and 34 percent of students without disabilities were not proficient, a 27 point gap. In Daviess County, 83 percent of students with disabilities were not proficient (which is actually below the goal of nearly 30 percent proficiency), and 39 percent of students without disabilities were not proficient. That’s a 44 point gap.

In 2005, The Kentucky Association of School Councils used data from the Kentucky Department of Education to rank the Kentucky schools which had the strongest results from their programs for students with disabilities. Some local schools led the list. Among elementary schools, Deer Park and East View Elementary Schools in Daviess County ranked number one and two, respectively. Among middle schools, Daviess County Middle School was fifth, McLean County Middle School was sixth, and Burns Middle School was seventh. Among high schools, Ohio County High School ranked fifth.

What the bill would do

Already some public money goes to private schools for educating children with special needs.

Out of 650,000 public school students in Kentucky, about 110,000 are classified as students with special needs, including 2,000 in Daviess County.

Each public school district receives federal money for special needs students through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. Federal law requires that the money be spent on students attending any school within a district’s boundaries, including a private school or home school. Currently, 2,500 special needs students in Kentucky are attending public schools that are not in their home districts or private schools. About 32 of the private-school students are in Daviess County.

... of 650,000 public school students in Kentucky, about 110,000 are classified as students with special needs, including 2,000 in Daviess County.

Here’s how the federal funding flow works for special needs students in private or home schools: Daviess County Public Schools receives about $35,000 per year for the 32 private-school students. District and private school officials meet to determine how best to divide up the money, based on the students’ needs and how they will be met. Some students have more needs than others; any services the school district provides for those students (beyond what their own schools provide) are funded through IDEA.

Under Lee’s bill, however, all public funds that would normally be spent on a special needs student’s instruction would follow the student to the school of choice, including a private school.
That would include about $3,500 per year in funds that the state spends per student in Kentucky, plus the federal money and additional public funds for special needs instruction (from $4,000 to $12,000). The bill also requires the student’s public school district to provide transportation to the school the parents choose. And it allows parents to send their child to a public school in another district if they choose.

Different school funding philosophies

Officials with the Bluegrass Institute, a public policy think tank based in Bowling Green which has long advocated for allowing all Kentucky parents to use tax money to send their children to private schools, helped Lee develop the bill. In general, the institute supports a free market approach to education – the idea that competition for students would force schools to do a better job.

“The education policy of the state of Kentucky does not allow parents to make a decision about their children knowing that their funding will follow,” said Jim Waters, policy and communications director for the institute.

That policy is rooted in the Kentucky Constitution, which prohibits the use of tax dollars for private education. Most other states have a similar approach.

However five states allow publicly funded school vouchers, while six allow tax credits or deductions for private schooling. And two others, Florida and Utah, have created voucher programs for special needs students.

Waters and Lee maintain that Kentucky Supreme Court precedent provides an exception to Kentucky’s constitutional prohibition on private school funding in regard to students with special needs or learning disabilities.

And if the legislature permits parents of special needs students to use state and local funds for private schools, that might pave the way for allowing all students to do so, according to Waters. Presumably that would require a constitutional amendment approved by Kentucky voters.

We are helping open the door to educational liberty in Kentucky…
-- Jim Waters, The Bluegrass Institute

“We thought it would be tougher (for lawmakers and the public) to look at this (special needs) program and say no,” he said. “We are helping open the door to educational liberty in Kentucky (and) we are beginning with the people who need it the most. We strongly believe that all Kentucky parents should eventually have the right to place their children in the school that (gives) the best opportunity to succeed in life.”

The philosophical argument against such a system, made by groups such as the Kentucky Education Association, which represents public school teachers, is that public money should go to fund public schools, which are already struggling because of too little funding in all areas, including special needs education.

The KEA maintains, for instance, that the federal funding bill, IDEA, has never provided adequate funds to educate special needs students. Expected to provide about 40 percent of the cost of educating special needs students, it actually provides about 18 percent, according to Daviess County officials. To compound the problem, the funds that schools do get are still based on the student population in 1998; in Daviess County, there almost 800 more special needs students now than in 1998.

Expected to provide about 40 percent of the cost of educating special needs students, it (the federal funding bill) actually provides about 18 percent ... (and is) still based on the student population in 1998; in Daviess County, there are almost 800 more special needs students now than in 1998.

There is also the question of whether competition for public schools – from charter schools or private schools – results in better education, as advocates of school choice argue. A study by the U.S. Department of Education released this year found that children in public schools scored as well or better on tests in reading and math as children in private schools, with the exception of eighth grade reading. Critics argue that the study is flawed.

Bob Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, an independent group of education volunteers based in Lexington, Ky., said the group doesn’t have a strong position on the bill, but he thinks removing some students from public school is a narrow strategy that won’t help all students achieve a high level of learning.

“What it ignores is the question of how to improve services to all 110,000 of these (special needs) children,” he said. “Our concern is for all those children. The advocates of school choice just have not ever, that I’ve seen, dealt with that question of how do you help all students improve?”

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