Colorado charter schools on average enroll fewer students with disabilities than noncharters — lending weight to long-held criticism of the publicly funded schools that are supposed to serve everyone.
But efforts are underway on the state level and in Denver to change the imbalance, including a task force and committee focused on the issue.
“I’m hearing on the national level how wonderful charter schools are — then let’s make them all accessible,” said Stephanie Lynch, consultant with the Colorado Department of Education’s Exceptional Student Leadership Unit who also leads a charter school special-education committee.
Data from 2007-08 show that 6.9 percent of charter school students have identified disabilities, compared with 9.7 percent in all schools.
Critics have long contended that charters skim the best and brightest students, leaving traditional schools to educate the rest.
“It’s a frustration that that so rarely gets talked about and addressed,” said state Rep. Michael Merrifield, chairman of the House Education Committee.
Only 22 of 142 Colorado charter schools had more students with disabilities than the state average, according to 2008-09 data.
Most charters with higher percentages of special-ed students were rated either “low” or “average” on 2008 Colorado School Accountability Reports.
Conversely, most high-performing charter schools tended to have fewer kids with identified special needs.
For example:
• “Excellent”-rated Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy in Colorado Springs lists 2.19 percent of its 778 students as having individualized education plans, or IEPs, which address a student’s special needs.
The school’s enrollment form asked whether a student had ever received special-education services and said “failure to disclose an IEP will result in the nullification of enrollment. Enrollment with an IEP is subject to district review and approval.”
School officials changed the wording after an inquiry by The Denver Post.
• “Excellent”-rated Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, recently noted in Newsweek as one of the nation’s top high schools, lists 3.84 percent of its 1,405 students as having an IEP.
• “Excellent”-rated Classical Academy middle school in Colorado Springs lists 3.73 percent of its 429 students as having IEPs.
West Denver Prep exception
Yet, there are exceptions.
West Denver Preparatory is a high-performing middle school in Denver with roughly 10 percent of students having IEPs — on par with the state average but lower than Denver Public Schools’ average of 12.13 percent.
“It has been a part of the plan from the beginning,” Chris Gibbons, head of the school, said of serving students with disabilities.
Kari Morse’s two children have IEPs and are enrolled at West Denver Prep.
Her 12-year-old son, Wyatt, has attention deficit disorder and is on the autism spectrum, she said.
Morse at first hesitated to enroll Wyatt at West Denver Prep but has been pleased with his progress.
At the school, teachers, rather than students, switch from classroom to classroom between periods. Morse said that alone has been good for her son, who she believes would get lost in the daily shuffle.
One explanation for the low numbers of students with disabilities is in how charters are funded and how districts are set up to teach students with disabilities, as well as the size of the schools and how well they are equipped to teach atypical students.
“Some of these things are real, and some are perceived,” said Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. “However, the system we have doesn’t help overcome those challenges.”
Incentive for district schools
Most Colorado charters pay upfront for a share of the district’s special-education programming, which may be incentive to keep those special-ed students, programming and dollars in district schools.
Most large Colorado school districts also have centralized special-ed programs to serve students with more intense disabilities.
Charters do not have these center programs, so students who may need more help are directed toward the district’s center schools. This means most charters rarely serve students with anything higher than a moderate disability.
In Colorado, at least two charter schools have been developed to focus on students with disabilities — the Rocky Mountain Deaf School in Golden and Vanguard Classical School in Aurora.
Vanguard was founded in 2007 by Cerebral Palsy of Colorado. The school’s model is focused on full integration of students with disabilities and their nondisabled peers.
Students are not pulled out of class for services. Special-education teachers help out at every grade level.
“The rap generally out there is that (charters) cream the kids, but that’s not true,” said Rob Miller, director of operations at Vanguard.
Parents play a big role
The real deciders of where students go are parents, said Kelly Hupfeld, assistant dean of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, who conducted a study on how parents of children with disabilities search for schools.
The research focused on Denver and Milwaukee, concluding that parents of children with more significant disabilities tend to shy away from charter schools, preferring the higher levels of support in traditional schools.
Many parents of children with more moderate to mild needs were pleased with the smaller classes and specialized nature of charter schools.
“Speaking from my own experience as a parent of a child with a disability, you are looking to be even more precise about the characteristics of the schools and to make sure it is a good fit for your child,” Hupfeld said. “You don’t have that margin of error.”
Two years ago, the state began a charter school special-education advisory committee after issues began to arise with charter schools and special education.
Recently, several charter schools or their authorizing districts have set up policies to ban students with special needs from enrolling in charter schools based on the number of hours of services on their IEPs.
Possible discrimination
At a recent meeting, the committee worked on a position paper to warn the schools and districts against possible discrimination.
“We do want to send a message that this is not acceptable,” said Denise Mund, principal consultant with the Colorado Department of Education’s Schools of Choice Unit.
Students with disabilities must not be discriminated against, according to federal and state law. Determination on where they can attend is up to the student’s IEP, not the district or school, she said.
Charter officials and Denver Public Schools administrators also recently started a task force to look at how students with disabilities are being served in charters.
“The point is to have a real collaborative discussion about how we make sure we are providing equity and opportunity to all of our families,” said DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg, “and that all of our schools have a level playing field of opportunity for all of our kids.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
