Charter Schools and Special Education: Systemic Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation

ABSTRACT

Both charter schools and special education are systems designed to improve the educational experiences of a specific subset of students. However, one system was borne of the goal of increased school autonomy while the other necessarily requires compliance with myriad state and federal regulations. This article explores the resulting tension between the two and the unique challenges charters face in educating students with disabilities, including legal constraints, enrollment practices, and funding disparities. Innovative solutions to these challenges are also discussed, including pseudo-governance structures, charter-district collaborations, and state laws providing charters options in how to provide special education services to students.

KEYWORDS:

• charter schools
• school choice
• special education
• students with disabilities

Acknowledgments

This previously appeared as Working Paper 242 with the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University (http://ncspe.tc.columbia.edu/working-papers).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15582159.2024.2353423.

Notes

1. The term “mental retardation” was used to describe individuals with severe cognitive impairments until very recently and was the common terminology in the mid-1800s. Not until October 2010 did Congress pass legislation officially changing the term “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability” in all places where it was used (Rosa’s Law, 2010). In this article, I use the term “intellectual disability” unless directly referencing historical materials that use “mental retardation” due to the pejorative association with the term.