Special Education in California Charters

I wanted to share my new Reason Foundation report that found that California charter schools are successfully providing students with disabilities with a quality education. The report also found that charter schools are reducing the number of students labeled "special education" through early intervention programs designed to keep students performing at grade level, despite school districts that withhold significant amounts of money intended for their students with disabilities.

The full study is here.

Here is a quote from the LA Daily News article today that highlights the funding problems faced by California charters.

Joe Lucente, president of Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace, said his school already pays for such services as speech and language therapy and that LAUSD shouldn't charge them as if it provided them.

"The district has chosen to totally ignore that and two months ago, confiscated the entire 37 percent -- $220,000," Lucente said. "This could end up in legal action. There's no way we're going to allow them to breach our contract."