Extra special education
BOSTON'S SCHOOL SYSTEM goes to great lengths to ensure that students with disabilities attend class with regular-education youngsters. But while the principle of the "least restrictive environment" is embedded in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, compliance with that principle could be getting tossed out the school bus window along with millions of dollars.
Boston provides free transportation to and from school for roughly 40,000 students, who qualify based largely on their age and how far they live from school. Most children get picked up at a neighborhood bus stop. But roughly 3,700 special-education students receive door-to-door service as part of the Individualized Education Programs that their families have worked out with school administrators. The customized service costs about $22 million, or 32 percent of the city's $69 million overall school transportation budget.
New School Superintendent Carol Johnson needs to take a hard look at special-education transportation. She could face strong resistance from parents or advocates who favor the status quo. But she must determine quickly if the system is overspending on students with behavioral or learning disabilities who might be capable of riding the regular school bus. It's possible that door-to-door service has become a perk for special-ed students or a salve for their parents. If so, that money would be better spent in the classroom to extend the school day or reduce dropout rates for both regular and special-ed students.
Transporting students who cannot walk seems to be only a minor expense. Only 130 students require the service of vans equipped with wheelchair lifts. Another 111 students require door-to-door service for serious problems, such as heart conditions or impaired vision. It seems a stretch that more than 3,000 additional students have disabilities so severe that they can't recognize safety hazards on the way to the bus stop. If fear of disruptive behavior or bullying is behind the door-to-door service, then Johnson needs to determine if adding bus monitors would be cheaper and just as effective.
Former school superintendent Michael Contompasis put special-ed transportation costs on his list of unfinished business last month when he handed the reins to Johnson. He suspects that some students who receive door-to-door transportation on weekdays may have no trouble finding their own way around town on weekends. If so, other students are being cheated, and Boston taxpayers are getting taken for a ride.
Federal and state laws are surprisingly flexible on the subject of transportation for special-ed students. There is nothing to prevent the school district from insisting that efforts to steer more students into the educational mainstream begin at the bus stop, not the family doorstep.
