Lost in the burgeoning debate in Madison over Special Needs Scholarships that would provide some public funding for children with disabilities in private schools is the fact that the current system already does exactly that – although not in a fair or logical or effective way.
The current system in Wisconsin is similar to the one in most other states.
It is driven by the federal law that entitles each child with a disability to a “free, appropriate public education” through the age of 21. The current method recognizes, at the same time though, that parents and public school officials often differ over what constitutes an “appropriate” education for a child with a disability. So it contains provisions designed to assure that such children in private schools — while they do not have the same absolute right to public resources — are assured of “equitable participation” in some federal funding and services.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen for a variety of reasons.
The current system gives responsibility for finding, identifying and evaluating children with disabilities — including those attending private schools — to local education agencies, or LEAs, that are almost always local school districts. It also essentially gives the local districts responsibility for ensuring the so-called equitable participation by private school children as a group.