FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER Sacramento, California http://www.feat.org
“Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet”
______________________________________________________
August 22, 2001 Search www.feat.org/search/news.asp
Michigan Board of Ed Out to Gut Special Ed Parent’s Power
Editorial pertaining to the Proposed Revised Administrative Rules for Special Education
COMMENTARY By Kim Murphy
Currently, the Michigan Department of Education is in the process of aligning their state administrative rules for special education with the federal regulations, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Within this process, the Department of Education is rescinding the majority of rules that have been relied upon to regulate special education services offered in Michigan. This process will shift the burden of enforcing special education laws from the state level down to the Individual Education Plan process where many parents are left helpless. There is a tremendous lack of enforcement here in Michigan, as there is in many states around the U.S. Parents and organizations alike are horrified that these changes are taking place and that our input is being given little credence. We are organizing and we are gaining strength to fight these changes and to hold on to the regulations that we feel are invaluable in securing appropriate services for our children.
The public needs to be made aware that it is their tax-payer dollars that fund school district attorneys in special education disputes. The average due process hearing costs a school district approximately $60,000 or more. These dollars come out of the general education fund, the fund that services all children in the district. It is expected that the proposed changes to the administrative rules for special education will leave too many decisions to argument, as school districts will have much more flexibility in determining what they feel is appropriate for a child. This scenario will foster a gradual increase in complaints, mediations and due process hearings. These are administrative remedies that drain the general education fund. All children deserve an appropriate education and all tax-payers deserve for their dollars to fund that education, not to fund power trips of those who happen to hold all of the cards.
The school management groups in Michigan are in support of these proposed revisions and have encouraged school districts to be supportive of these changes as well. For school districts, the benefits of more flexibility far outweigh the risk of increased special education disputes.
It will be the special education students who do not have advocating parents that will be the most affected by these changes. Unfortunately, this represents the majority. The “greater local flexibility” that the Department of Education contends to be a good thing is really nothing more than self-governing control that will limit a school districts ability to be influenced by the needs of a child. Rules are made to protect. When our children are not protected, our future is left defenseless.
I strongly urge all Michigan parents to join the Special Education Law Michigan listserv to learn more about how they can become involved in the current efforts of stopping the proposed rules from going into effect. I would also suggest a visit to the following links to learn more about the magnitude of this situation.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpecialEdLawMichigan
http://www.causeonline.org/SPED%20Rules%20Central.htm
http://www.iqonline.net/lapeerfoundation/proposed_revised_administrative.htm
http://www.ameritech.net/users/cabreenie/index.htm
>>> PROFESSORS, TEACHERS, TRAINERS <<<
Autism Continuing Education for
Students Now Available ADVISE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE
FEAT Daily Newsletter, NO FEE.
http://www.feat.org/FEATNews