District of Columbia school officials have let the federally mandated education plans of nearly 1,300 students expire, exposing the besieged D.C. education system to even more litigation, The Examiner has learned.
Federal law requires schools to draft plans for their disabled students and to update them yearly. Yet thousands of students’ plans have been allowed to lapse, according to a source within the special education department. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of a fear of retribution.
The expired plans come on top of a backlog of hundreds of students who are still waiting to have their special education plans drafted. D.C. is already under two consent decrees stemming from its disastrous special education system, and the expired plans put the city in jeopardy of even more lawsuits as parents and children try to get basic services.
“It’s a disgrace,” said LaCrisha Butler, who fought the school system for years on behalf of her nephew, Travis, 16. “It shows the caretakers of our system aren’t taking care of our children.”
Marla Oakes, director of the special education program, could not be reached for comment.
D.C.’s special education system is the largest and most expensive in the country. Nearly one out of every five children in the D.C. schools have some kind of disability. It’s a program that’s budgeted to cost nearly $210 million in fiscal 2008.
Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has promised to make special education her top priority. But court records show, and special education experts said, that D.C. hasn’t taken basic steps to rein in the system.
Critics point to Encore, D.C.’s computerized, multimillion-dollar special education case-management system, as an example. Even as school systems like Montgomery County have used Encore to reduce expenses and streamline their services, D.C. officials haven’t gotten sufficient training on the system, court documents and a school source indicate. Less than 55 percent of D.C. special education cases have been entered in the system in the last three years, the source said.
Education system
» 17.9 percent of students classified as special education
» Budget of at least $209.6 million
» Average cost per child: $81,000
Source: American Institutes for Research
Got a tip on D.C.’s special education system? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or send him an e-mail, [email protected].
