| The special ed preference reasoning applies to language preference for dual language schools--I wonder if th Council will allow them to do it next. |
I don't think the dual language schools have trouble filling like a classroom for children with high level special needs. |
Except the right to an appropriate education for a student with disabilities is a federal civil right, and clustering children together to a certain degree, even in an inclusion model, makes economic sense as well (economies as scale). I don't think language preference has the same legal basis. |
I've never understood why DCPS gets to do language preference, and charters do not. It makes no sense. |
Because that's how the law is written. Charters are supposed to be open to all who apply, save for limited preferences (which admittedly keep getting more numerous) with seats allocated by lottery. DCPS gets to do it because, as a large LEA, they can offer you another elementary schools if you can't meet the criteria of the specialized program (eg if you don't want Spanish immersion and are IB for Oyster they put you in SWWFS). Almost all of the charters are their own LEA and don't have multiple campus options. You cant preferentially serve one community (Spanish speakers, Chinese speakers, people who live just across the street, Montessori alumni) under the law without giving them an equivalent opportunity elsewhere. Unless of course, the Council amenda the law as they just did for the special education students. |