Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Charter Schools and Special Education

Interesting opinion piece in today's New York Daily News by Marcus Winters, a Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
NEW YORK -- In a new report, the United Federation of Teachers has committed to a fresh line of attack against charter schools: Charters aren't enrolling enough special education students. The teachers union doesn't want the state Legislature to lift its cap on the number of charter schools until - among a whole raft of other "reforms" - they enroll their fair share of disabled kids.
It's true that a lower proportion of charter school students are in special education relative to the surrounding public schools. However, the reasons for the special education gap are nuanced and are not primarily driven by the charters' bad behavior. In fact, the lower percentages of special education students in charters may actually be a sign of what they're doing right.

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