Special ed rights on steroids: Time to detox

The Florida legislature and governor surely meant well when they passed Senate Bill 1108 on June 28, 2013. But, setting aside the best intentions, the bill reflects an all-too pervasive poor policy judgment in special education law and policy (more on that below). Without diving too deep in the technicalities, the law requires districts to obtain parental consent before they give a student with disabilities an alternative assessment in lieu of the state’s standardized test. On its face, what could be wrong with this? Parents certainly would want more, rather than less, input on their child’s education.

But the law goes too far. Primarily, here’s why: If the school district wants to overrule the parents’ decision — say, because in their considered judgment, the alternative assessment makes the most sense — the district must sue the parents. You read that correctly — if the district wants to veto the parents’ call, they must, literally, make it a federal issue and take the parents to due process. Of course, that won’t happen (what school administrator is eager to jump into litigation?) and, thus, the parents effectively control the decision.

Parent choice should not carry more weight than educators’ professional judgment.