Charter schools, in general, can receive both public and private funding. This is true of special education charter schools, as well. Despite being partially funded privately, accountability standards and quality assurance standards must be met by charter schools to continue to receive public funding or to continue to operate.
There are a number of federal laws that are relevant to special education charter schools. The U.S. Department of Education lists the following federal laws as the most relevant: the Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (504), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Parents, special education teachers and special education charter school administrators should be familiar with these laws and how they relate to their children, their work as a teacher or to their school.Find information on these laws at the Department of Education's website at ed.gov.
Special education covers a wide range of educational, neurological, physical, speech and other disabilities. Charter schools need the specialized services of a wide range of professionals, including physical and occupational, speech and other therapists, nursing care and other medical staff, and other specialized supportive services.
For those looking into special education charter schools, care must be taken to make sure they have the staff to fulfill the specialized needs of individual special education students.
Some of the challenges facing special education charter schools are include 1) charter schools in general are a new entity and not as well established as public schools; 2) the size of charter schools, in general, are relatively small compared to that of most public schools; and 3) the governance of charter schools may not be as strictly uniform as that of public schools.
While in all respects, this can place greater challenges on charter schools; at the same time, when the schools rise above these challenges, this can place special education charter schools in a better position to help children with special needs to succeed.
For charter schools to succeed in the field of special education, rigorous authorization requirements need to be encouraged and enforced to ensure high quality programs.