The wealthy have unfair advantages when getting specialized education for their kids. Here’s what the state can do. (Boston Globe)
Below is an excerpt from an article published by the Boston Globe on November 11. The Globe investigation revealed that families of higher incomes benefit when navigating the legal process of getting their child access to special education resources. Advocates say that increasing legal aid, funding academic and neuropsychological evaluations, and more could help level the playing field for families with low incomes. Community Legal Aid’s Amy Dion is quoted.
School districts across Massachusetts over the past decade have engaged in hundreds of secretive settlements with special-education families, doling out money and services with little state oversight, according to a Globe investigation.
Parents with the financial resources to afford costly advocates and attorneys benefit from this system the most, securing for their children annual tuition reimbursements to private special-education schools, while those with lesser means are often left to watch their children with disabilities struggle, the Globe found.
Meanwhile, parents are prevented from sharing information about their settlements because of nondisclosure agreements — a setup that further disempowers under-resourced families because it prevents them from sharing useful information with others, advocates said.
These inequities don’t need to persist: Experts said there are steps the state can take to level the playing field, from expanding civil legal aid to bolstering the special-educator workforce.
Here are five avenues the state could pursue to make out-of-district placements more equitable:
Read more at the Boston Globe.
