So charter schools are caught between a rock and a hard place-between families seeking alternative strategies for educating their children and rigid federal requirements. This could be the beginning of the end of charter schools' ability to serve disabled youngsters in ways that their parents and the schools think best. Furthermore, special-education students are making academic gains in their charter schools. That so many special-education students appear to be thriving in charter schools is encouraging. Thus it is all the more tragic that charter schools may be under siege from Ms. Cantu and the special-education establishment.
Special education is already the domain in which charter schools have the least freedom.
Yet we've seen plenty of examples of innovative and successful programs. We've seen charter schools that contract out for numerous services for their special-needs children, schools that maintain high standards for everyone, schools with individualized education plans for everyone, and schools that fill a particular niche. The Metro Deaf Charter School in Minnesota, for example, enrolls only deaf students in grades K-6. American Sign Language is taught as the primary language and English as a second language. Metro Deaf is regarded nationally as a model for the education of hearing-impaired pupils.