Feds Rule District Can Limit School Choice For Special Education Students

[The Straight Story]

Feds Rule District Can Limit School Choice For Special Education Students

Department of Education officials are okaying a Missouri school district’s plan to require preschoolers with disabilities to attend a new special education center over objections from area parents.

Currently, Springfield, Mo. children with disabilities attend preschool within neighborhood schools where special education classes include typically developing children who often serve as role models. But when a new early childhood special education center is completed early next year, all special education preschoolers will be forced to move to the new facility.

A local parent filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights arguing that unilaterally moving all special education students away from their zoned schools denies them their right to an education in the least restrictive environment. But this week the department found that the school district plan is perfectly legal, reports the (Springfield, Mo.) News-Leader.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/11/10/sped-preschool/11165/