Ilise L. Feitshans, JD and ScM
120 Warwick Road, Haddonfield, New Jersey, USA 08033
856 428 0605 Email ilise@prodigy.net
Is Special Education for Everyone?
Winning Civil Rights is not a spectator sport. All of society suffers from the costly low expectations for anyone who is labeled disabled, and so US federal law protects students against discrimination based on disability. Representing families of disabled students has taught me, however, that even though federal law proclaims equal opportunity as the civil right of disabled students, the so-called Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) guaranteed by federal law is not really “free of charge”. Although there is no such thing as spending too much money on education, when billions and billions of dollars have been spent, whether for public or private education, it is fair to question whether those dollars have been spent wisely or equitably. Closer attention to the root causes of the problems shows that fairer effective systems for educating disabled students can exist----- without spending another dime.
The root cause of the widening separate but extremely unequal system of education for the disabled is not money. Garden variety prejudice: attitudes that have been ingrained for centuries suggesting the need to provide charity to the disabled while overlooking or denying their human potential. There has been a fundamental break in communication, and there is a concomitant lack of trust resulting from that disconnection. Information does not adequately flow from school districts to the public and private schools in communities that surround them. Information doesn’t flow from the federal government to states; nor to school districts from state legislatures. Taxpayers, students and parents who do not perceive themselves as having disabilities do not understand the fundamental precepts of inclusion; students who have a label of disability do not receive adequate support services with goals for high achievement. Segregation of disabled from non-disabled student populations remains consistent across the spectrum from independent to public schools, and seems to vary only slightly by SES or geography.
Public school districts, although strapped by tight budgets, can save money by simply providing necessary services that many schools fail to provide. It costs nothing to give a child ungraded spelling or to intervene when a disabled child who needs assistive technology is harassed by peers; yet few people have the time, money or knowledge of the system to expend in order to ensure the wise use of these resources. Such services may appear expensive at first, but further scrutiny reveals that necessary services cost less than the combined costs of three budget items: (1) litigation in defense against due process, civil rights and other claims brought by parents on behalf of students illegally deprived of services; (2) out of district placement costs and (3) lost revenue and opportunity costs for the failure to seek grants to reimburse services that districts do not presently provide. The money saved by refraining from litigation is much greater than the costs for assistive technology and services required by law. Therefore, we must proactively uproot embedded prejudices---- the weeds, overtaking and destroying our beautiful education system. Then we can all reap the benefits of special education.
Thank you for your consideration and time.
Sincerely,
Ilise L. Feitshans JD and ScM
Prof. I. L. Feitshans JD and ScM
120 Warwick Rd Haddonfield NJ USA 088033 856 428 0605 ilise@prodigy.net
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