Special Ed And Voucher Schools

Two education issues are dovetailing in America's courts: the needs of special education students and the future of voucher schools.

• Three years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that a county school district failed to meet the requirements of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act in teaching a learning impaired student and ordered it to pay the child's tuition to any school appropriate to the child's disability.

• Since then suits for private school reimbursement have mushroomed dramatically, according to the National School Boards Association.

• In New York City alone, such suits have increased from two just three years ago to 210 last year -- prompting the city to drill school administrators in ways to avoid suits.

Shannon Carter, the South Carolina child at the center of the Supreme Court decision had entered seventh grade not knowing how to read. Once her parents removed her from public school -- which had virtually written her off -- and used state money to put her in the private school, she jumped several grade levels and graduated, reading on par with other students.

Source: Brent Staples, "The End of Special Education?" New York Times, October 7, 1996