Abbott floats school choice as solution to special ed frustration [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott suggested Tuesday that the lack of special education services in Texas could be solved, in part, with more school choice.

In a briefing with reporters, the first-term Republican responded to questions about the state's longtime special education enrollment benchmark by predicting that it would soon be eliminated and then pivoting to a pitch for school choice.

A program that gives parents of special needs kids money to seek out the school that is the best fit would allow some schools to specialize in children with certain types of challenges and alleviate the current pressure on all schools to serve all students with all disabilities, Abbott said.

"It's financially difficult ... for every public school in every ZIP code to provide the full array of solutions for the unique special needs of who may be living in a particular zip code," he said. "It would be far more efficient to provide that money to parents for them to choose which school is best for their child, knowing that in the City of Houston, for example, where there are hundreds of schools, there may only be 10 that have the resource and capabilities of addressing the special needs of that particular parent's child."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Abbott-floats-school-choice-as-solution-to-10794219.php