Posted on 04/02/2008 7:11:05 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes
Home-schooled children in New York who receive special-education services through their school district will have to get their own therapy or go to school full time.
The state Education Department notified school districts in January that they cannot provide the services.
In a memo to superintendents, the state says the federal Individual with Disabilities Education Act requires students who are home-schooled to receive the same special-education services as those enrolled in private schools, if the state designates home schools as private schools. But New York State does not recognize home schools as private schools.
The change came as the result of a decision by a state review officer in a case brought last year.
"It's a problem we had seen cropping up across the country," said T.J. Schmidt, a staff attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association, a nonprofit organization providing legal services to home-school parents. "The federal government basically leaves it up to the states to determine who is a nonpublic student."
He said many parents in New York have received letters from school districts telling them that the services will be terminated.
"Often these children are in most need of additional services because their parents may not be able to provide these services themselves, or they're going to have a difficult time getting these services outside school," Schmidt said.
The decision affects a relatively small number of students. There are about 450 children statewide receiving the services from their school districts, the state estimates.
In the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District, the district is setting up appointments with the parents of four children, said Michael B. Haggerty, a spokesman for the district. Most of them receive occupational or physical therapy, he said. The district will go over the individualized education program for the pupil to see if any changes in services are warranted.
"The choice is, they enroll their student in public school or private school. If not, they're kind of on their own for the level of services their child needs," Haggerty said. "This is something the state decided, and whether we want to or not, we have to comply with the regulations."
Ping... This affects New York homeschoolers.
Actually, it seems reasonable.
Homeschooling ping, please.
This is not part of the homeschool regs for NYS.
They've been doing this for years. They've set precedent.
This amounts to blackmail.
I agree. This is a great lesson about receiving government money. It does (and arguably should) have strings attached. If we don’t like the strings we shouldn’t accept the money. Not sure that’s what you are implying but that’s my take on the thing.
Only if homeschoolers are exempted from paying school taxes for resources that they cannot use.
This, from a state that has a blind governor! He should be ashamed of himself to allow this to happen.
While technically not another reason to homeschool, this is just yet another attempt to attack homschooling. Since they can't do it through legislative means, they'll try any underhanded tactic. These parents pay property and school taxes already. It's not like they're getting something for nothing.
If the school districts want to watch their budgets, they'd make more progress with internal and administrative cuts.
If they pay property taxes, then they should be able to receive the services. If not, then they should be able to opt out of the property taxes. Yeah, that’ll happen!
If you’re a property owner, your taxes are paying for the local school system. Why shouldn’t you be entitled to the services that other taxpayers are entitled to?
It’s akin to saying, paint your house a certain color, or the paramedics won’t respond when you call 911. Your taxes paid for the services, and the local government should not put restrictions on your use of them.
Just MHO.
What about the tax money that’s extorted from the parents in the form of property and school taxes? They have to pay it on the threat of losing their property and going to jail.
It’s not like the government’s money is theirs, as if it’s a private foundation. The money the government is disbursing to pay for these services comes from the very people they’re denying the services to.
So you think it’s OK to force people to pay for something and then deny them the use of it? Isn’t this supposed to be a representative government? Who put them in charge to make those kinds of decisions without the input of the people?
It is EXACTLY what I was implying. Thank you.
You might think so. However, experiences with having a brother with special needs teach me that there is no practical way to get therapy services except through the government. My parents did not want to, but they had no choice. My brother needed the therapy and you couldn’t even get appointments unless you went with the government. There’s basically no private market for this stuff.
Sounds like an equal protection lawsuit to me.
My personal belief is that public schools are obsolete and should be dissolved.
But nobody is running to the polls to make me president so I won't hold my breath on that one.
No, it’s not. It’s wrong to force people to pay taxes and then deny them the use of the services they’ve paid for.
Or do you think extortion is OK?
It’s just a low handed attempt to force homeschoolers into the system using financial means instead of legal means. They know it would never fly if they tried to do it the right way, so they’re being underhanded.
You approve of that?
RR, now that position I can agree with you on!
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