FAPE

A Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). The simple elegance of this acronym truly encapsulates the promise of the American system of public education. It hearkens back to Thomas Jefferson's original vision when he proclaimed that 'we should educate and inform the whole masses of people...' Indeed he envisioned an arrangement of tuition free common schools that is the cornerstone of the system in place today. And our public schools do in fact educate and inform the whole masses of people. That means everyone, from all corners of society. A true melting pot where we have to learn to get along with, and learn from one another. Compromise, understand another persons point of view. You know, democracy.

Of course, it is not really free is it? While we don't charge tuition, there is no mistake that it takes a great deal of capital to make our public schools function. We rely on the goodwill and investment of our tax paying public to fund this enterprise. They have entrusted in us a great responsibility to realize and expand on Jefferson's vision. We are accountable to our public to ensure that we do indeed educate the whole masses of people. 

In my view, FAPE and the origins of our public school system fit like hand in glove. FAPE became the law of the land when signed by President Gerald Ford in 1975 and was referred to as (Public Law 94-142). It guaranteed the rights of every child in America to a free and appropriate public education, regardless of disability. In the intervening years it strengthened into the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and continues to be a beacon of hope and pillar of stability for so many families. The bottom line of course is that as a public school system, we have both a moral and legal responsibility to educate every student in our district: no matter what. The child who has ADHD. Send them to us. How about the child who needs a full time nurse? Send them to us. What about the student who is wheelchair bound? Send them to us. What about the student who comes from a non-traditional home? Who is dyslexic and can't read? Who needs a feeding tube? Has behavior issues? The list is endless. 

But send them to us. 

Under the guise of 'choice', a current legislative proposal would allow parents of qualifying students to choose the school they feel best meets the needs of their family and child. The same proposal also allow these schools to choose as well. Choose their students that is. The consequences of such a huge policy shift have the potential to cause serious harm to our system of public schools in Iowa. The arguments against have been well documented and for the sake of time I won't list them all here, expect to point out the obvious flaw that public schools are bound by FAPE, nonpublic(s) are not. This allows them to pick and choose who they admit.

The legislative proposal explicitly states such:

10.a.This section shall not be construed to authorize the state or any political subdivision of the state to exercise any authority over any nonpublic school or construed to require a nonpublic school to modify its academic standards for admission or educational program in order to receive payment from a parent or guardian using funds from a pupil's account in the student first scholarship fund. b. This section shall not be construed to expand the authority of the state or any political subdivision of the state to impose regulations on any nonpublic school that are not necessary to implement this section. (page 17, SF 2369)

In other words, they don't have to follow, nor are they accountable for any of the provisions outlined in FAPE. 

A long time ago I used to work in a nonpublic school. As a first year administrator, I sat across the table from a family and told them no when they wanted to enroll their child in our school. We didn't have the staff, the capacity, or the equipment to meet the needs of this student. I felt terrible, and frankly am a bit embarrassed about the decision. But I knew the needs of the child were far beyond our means. Even had a voucher system been available it would have been woefully inadequate and the answer still would have been no. One has to also remember, the costs of educating a child with special needs is far greater than the state cost per pupil, and the laws and much of the revenue used to fund special education programs is governed by federal law. 

Fast forward to this year. IDEA requires an administrator to participate in the development of educational plans for students that qualify for special education. Because they 'hold the power of the purse strings', their role is to make the determination as to whether or not a service is educationally necessary. Generally, these administrators (often referred to as the LEA rep) have broad authority to make these decisions because of the FAPE requirements. In most school districts, the LEA rep is delegated to the building principal tasked with overseeing the implementation of the plan. As such, I rarely participate in these meetings.

This year though, because of some unique and challenging cases coupled with a labor shortage I have sat in on a few of these meetings. Participation in these meetings has reaffirmed a commitment to serving all students in our district, no matter what. It fulfills the promise of FAPE and the responsibility that has been vested in us by our tax paying public. 

Hearing the challenges some of our parents have to overcome has been at times heartbreaking. They often have to fight for every service and are often their child's only advocate. For certain they are their most important champion. Participation in these meetings has given me fresh perspective and greater empathy for the challenges they face. Following a recent meeting we wondered how we were going to solve the problems that had been presented. Problems that are only exacerbated by the fact that we are in a very tight labor market. My parting comment before leaving the room was that I didn't know. But we were going to move heaven and earth to meet this child's needs.

Now, if we are going to allow schools to pick and choose who they serve, how does that square with Jefferson's vision of educating the 'whole masses' of people?