A Step To Address Special Education?

In almost every legal action, it is up to the plaintiff or prosecutor to prove its point to win the case, not the defendant (that whole “innocent until proven guilty" deal). Almost every legal action, except special education due process in Connecticut.

If parents do not feel their special needs child is getting the education he or she needs in a public school district, they can take the district to a legal hearing asking for a more involved education. What separates Connecticut from every other state but one is that in Connecticut, it is always up to the district to prove itself, not the plaintiff, Board of Education Chairman Donald Blevins said.

Tuesday night the Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution asking the Connecticut Board of Education to change the regulation, forcing the plaintiff to prove the case, not the district.

“It makes the process more fair,” Blevins said.

Money

If a parent wants more involved care for their special needs child, there is a cost to that, Assistant Superintendent Craig Powers said. Because the law in Connecticut is geared to help the parent, generally the district has been more “accommodating” than perhaps it should be, Powers said.

Superintendent Jerome Belair made the point that the district is not going to restrict a special needs child the services he or she needs because of cost. The point is that sometimes the child is getting the services he or she needs, and then the parents wants more, Board of Education member Tim Egan said.

So How Much Money?

Special Education is generally 20 percent of a school district’s overall budget, Belair said in an earlier interview. A single special needs child can cost more than $100,000 a year to educate, while a traditional student costs between $11,000 to $12,000, according to budget documents.

Going to a legal hearing over the special education a child should get can cost upwards of $50,000, Belair said. Avoiding those hearings would be a big help to the district, he said.