The public will get a glimpse at what has gone wrong with the District of Columbia’s crumbling special education system today when the D.C. Council opens hearings into a system that many say has failed thousands of children.

D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz, R-at large, has sponsored legislation that would require education officials to review the education plans of about 10,000 mentally ill and disabled children in D.C.’s school system. But some are hoping that today’s hearings will become an open forum on what’s gone wrong with the $210 million-plus system.