Special Education in Charter Schools:

The Basics

Eileen M. Ahearn, Ph.D.,Project DirectorNational Association of StateDirectors of Special Education

Plan for this Session

• What is a charter school’s responsibility for special education?

• What does LEA status mean?• What or who determines this status?• How have states handled this issue?• The critical policy tension between

charter schools and special education.

Charter School Responsibility for Special

Education • Charter schools as a retrofitted

element of our public education system.

• Application of federal laws to all public schools.

• But how is a charter school responsible?

Charter School LEA Status

• The primacy of state charter schools laws.

• The problems they pose for special education.

• The charter school as an LEA or Part of an LEA.

• Implications of this status.

LEA Status Determination

• The 5 existing “types” of legal status:– All charter schools are LEAs– All charter schools are Part of an LEA – Status depends on the Authorizer– Status depends on the type of School – Status chosen by the Charter School

Variation and Changein LEA Status

• Frequency of changes in state laws.• Only a few have affected LEA status.• Colorado and Illinois as “similar but

different” examples.• Georgia’s “charter school systems”

and short-lived Charter Commission.

The Policy Tension Between Special Education and

Charters

• The charter school concept.• The prescriptive nature of special

education laws.• Examples of this tension• Preparing staff and administration to

cope with this tension.