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##  Public Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities. ERIC Digest              E609.                                                                        

Charter schools are a relatively new component of the public                    education system in the United States. At the start of the 2000-2001            school year, 37 states in the United States had adopted legislation             permitting charter schools, and over 2,000 charter schools were in              operation with approximately 500,000 students. This digest examines             the unique nature of these schools, explains their obligations in               relation to serving students with disabilities, and presents the                results of current research on special education in charter                     schools. WHAT ARE CHARTER SCHOOLS?A charter school is most                often described as a new or converted public school founded by                  parents, teachers, or others, and operated with various levels of               autonomy from state or local rules or policies. Charter schools are             selected by parents for their children to attend, so they are                   considered "schools of choice." Each charter school has a written               charter or contract issued by an authorizing body in accordance with            state law. However, because each state law is different, it is                  impossible to give a uniform definition of charter schools or to                generalize about details of their operation. DO CHARTER SCHOOLS               SERVE STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES?Although public charter schools            are afforded some level of exemption from state or local laws or                requirements, they must conform to all federal laws and regulations             including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),               Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with                   Disabilities Act (ADA). A charter school is prohibited by law from              discriminating in admissions and must accept every student who                  applies or hold a lottery if there are more applicants than the                 school can accommodate. Recruitment and admissions are addressed in             a set of questions and answers regarding the application of federal             civil rights laws to public charter schools published by the U. S.              Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (2000). WHAT ARE             SOME OF THE ISSUES RELATED TO SPECIAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC

CHARTER            SCHOOLS?The legal identity of the charter school under state law            largely determines the specific responsibilities it has for its                 students with disabilities. There are two extremes: the charter                 school may be its own separate district, usually referred to as a               local education agency (LEA); or the charter school may be one of               the schools of a traditional district. There are also charter                   schools that have ties with LEAs that fall between these two                    extremes. If the charter school is its own LEA, it is responsible               for all aspects of special education including evaluations,                     programs, and related services. By contrast, in some states, the LEA            of the child's residence is responsible for special education for               all its students even if they attend charter schools operated                   independently from the district. 
Thus, there are profound legal,              financial, and operational implications in the legal identity of a              public charter school. It is critical that charter schools                      understand the nature of their linkage with the local district                  and/or intermediate unit, especially with respect to their                      responsibilities for providing a free appropriate public education              to children with disabilities. 
Charter schools are also affected              by many of the same pressures faced by other public schools, such as            finding appropriate special education staff, accessing fiscal                   resources, and integrating special education into the overall                   program of the school. WHAT DOES RESEARCH REVEAL ABOUT STUDENTS               WITH DISABILITIES IN CHARTER

SCHOOLS?The U.S. Department of              Education has funded two studies to examine special education in                charter schools. 
The first study, conducted by the research firm,             Westat, is called Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities: A             National Study (Fiore, Harwell, Blackorby, & Finnigan, 2000). It                involved visits to 32 charter schools where parents, teachers and               students were interviewed about why the parents chose to enroll                 their children with disabilities in a charter school, the ways                  charter schools serve those students, and how successful charter                schools have been in meeting their goals. The study found that 
*              Enrollment of students with more significant disabilities in charter            schools is relatively rare, except in schools specifically designed             for these students. 
* Parents of students with disabilities enroll            their child in a charter school for a combination of reasons related            to attractive features of the charter school and negative                       experiences with the previously attended school. 
* Staff at some              charter schools may "counsel" parents of students with disabilities             against enrolling in the charter school. However, other schools are             specifically designed to serve these students and other at-risk                 learners. 
* Most charter schools use the term "inclusion" to                  describe their approach to serving students with disabilities. The              meaning of the term varies across schools. 
* By almost all                    accounts, students with and without disabilities receive more                   individualized attention at the charter school than they did at                 their previous school. 
* Although accountability is a central                 feature of charter schools, most of them have little data to                    document the impact of their program on students with disabilities.             However, parents and students themselves are confident about the                students' success at charter schools. Factors identified as                     supporting student success include caring and dedicated teachers and            small schools and classes. 
* Some barriers encountered include                lack of adequate funding, strained relationships with local                     districts, lack of extracurricular activities, and                              transportation. 
The second federally funded study was supported by            a field-initiated grant to the National Association of State                    Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). The study, Project SEARCH:             Special Education As Requirements in Charter Schools (2001), focused            on the implementation of special education policy in the nation's               public charter schools. Some of the Project SEARCH findings                     follow: 
* There is much variability and a great need for defining             specific roles and responsibilities of state education                          agencies (SEAs), LEAs and other administrative units, and individual            charter schools in relation to special education. 
* Charter school            application and contracting processes often provide little more than            assurances that special education services will be provided; they               generally do not require demonstration of the capacity to meet those            obligations. 
* Most charter school operators have limited                     understanding of federal/state/local sources of special education               funding and how to access these resources. 
* Charter schools often            have difficulty locating appropriate special education staff,                   including teachers and related services personnel. 
* A charter                school's philosophy and curricular orientation can cause conflict               between the school's goals and special education requirements. 
Two            critical policy conflicts that underlie many of the specific                    findings of the study were identified: 
* Team decision-making vs.             parental choice-the tension between the special education principle             of individualized educational decision-making through a team and the            primacy of parental choice, a major characteristic of charter                   schools, and 
* Autonomy vs. regulation-conflict that arises from              the compliance and procedural regulation associated with special                education and the principle of autonomy that is so central to the               charter school concept. WHAT IS NEEDED TO INCREASE THE CAPACITY OF            CHARTER SCHOOLS TO PROVIDE

SPECIAL EDUCATION?To ensure                   appropriate compliance, school districts employ an administrator of             special education who is knowledgeable about legal requirements,                proper procedure, and the delivery of services. Since most charter              schools are very small and their funding is limited, their staffs               seldom include such an individual. Yet, for purposes of implementing            IDEA, charter schools need to be connected in some way with a                   special education infrastructure. This could be accomplished through            an existing LEA, the SEA, a cooperative organized to provide special            education support, or some other structure. Access to the necessary             expertise, provided in a way that does not compromise the autonomy              of the charter school and its mission, is essential to ensure                   appropriate services for students with disabilities and protect the             charter schools from the serious consequences of avoidable                      non-compliance. 
Research has revealed that everyone involved with             charter schools-authorizers, state and district officials, operators            and charter school staff-needs to understand the policy conflicts               that surround the implementation of special education in charter                schools and their need for a supportive connection to special                   education expertise. Such understanding will contribute                         significantly to the improvement of results for students with                   disabilities who attend public charter                                          schools. REFERENCESInternet resources cited in this document              were current at the time of publication. Please note that Web                   addresses are subject to change. 
Ahearn, E. M., McLaughlin, M. J.,            Lange, C. M., & Rhim, L. M. (in press). Project SEARCH: A national              study of special education in charter schools. Alexandria, VA:                  National Association of State Directors of Special Education. To be             available online at www.nasdse.org/project_search.htm. 
Fiore, T.              A., Harwell, L. M., Blackorby, J., & Finnigan, K. S. (2000). Charter            schools and students with disabilities: A national study.                       Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational            Research and Improvement. (available online at                                  www.uscharterschools.org) 
Nelson, B., Berman. P., Ericson, J.,                Kamprath, N., Perry, R., Silverman, D., & Solomon, D. (2000). The               state of charter schools 2000: Fourth-year report. Washington, DC:              U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and                Improvement. (available online at www.uscharterschools.org). ED 437             724. 
U.S. Office for Civil Rights. (2000, December). Applying                 federal civil rights laws to public charter schools. Washington, DC:            U.S. Department of Education. (available online at                              www.dssc.org/frc/fed/ocr_charter.htm). ED 443 233. 
ADDITIONAL                 RESOURCES 
Ahearn, E. M. (1999). Charter schools and special                   education: A report on state policies. Alexandria, VA: National                 Association of State Directors of Special Education. ED 429                     416. 
Fiore, T. A. & Cashman, E. R. (1998). Review of charter                  school legislation provisions related to students with disabilities.            Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational             Research and Improvement. ED 426 511. 
Fiore, T. A., Warren, S.                H., & Cashman, E. R. (1999). Charter schools and students with                  disabilities: Review of existing data. Washington, DC: U. S.                    Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and                     Improvement. ED 426 575. 
Studies funded by the U. S. Department of            Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement:                      www.ed.gov/pubs/studies.html#Charter. 
Center for Education Reform:            www.edreform.com/pubs/chglance.htm (National statistics on charter              schools are maintained and regularly updated on this web                        site.) 
U.S. Charter Schools: www.uscharterschools.org 
References            with an ED number are available for a fee through the ERIC Document             Reproduction Service (EDRS) at http://edrs.com/ or call                         800.443.3742. 
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ERIC Digests are in the public domain and               may be freely reproduced and disseminated, but please acknowledge               your source. This digest was prepared with funding from the Office              of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of              Education (ED) under Contract No. ED-99-CO-0026. The opinions                   expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the                    positions or policies of OERI or ED.                                         **Title:** Public Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities. ERIC Digest              E609.                                                                        **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Council for            Exceptional Children, 1110 North Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA                       22201-5709. Tel: 800-328-0272 (Toll Free); Fax: 703-620-2521;                   e-mail: [email protected]. For full text: http://www.ericec.org.           **Descriptors:**  Charter Schools, Compliance (Legal), Decision Making,                           Disabilities, Elementary Secondary Education, Federal Regulation,              Nontraditional Education,  Public Schools, Regular and Special                  Education Relationship, School Based Management, School Choice,                 School District Autonomy,  School Policy,  Special Education                 **Identifiers:**
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