ANAHEIM : Special-Education Mandates Criticized

State and federal mandates involving special-education students are coming under fire from several school districts.

Magnolia School District has asked the state to either increase funding or eliminate some of the mandates, and the Anaheim Union High School District will consider a similar resolution at its meeting Monday night.

And trustees of the Anaheim City School District may consider the resolution early next year, according to a district spokesman.

The resolution contends that the federal and state governments require districts to spend money on services such as transportation but do not reimburse them enough. This forces school districts to take money away from the rest of the students, the resolution says.

“This situation results in one class of students having a greater claim on the district’s services than another class of students, to the detriment of the latter class of students,” the resolution reads.

According to Jim Helmsley, director of special education for a consortium of school districts in western Orange County, the most difficult mandate requires that schools reimburse parents for attorney fees when there is a disagreement over a special-education student’s placement.

“The threat of having to pay attorneys’ fees is driving the decision over how to educate a child, rather than the best interest of the child,” Helmsley said.

But organizations that work with parents of special-education students are concerned that the resolutions may cause the federal government to withdraw the little funding it does provide.

“The conservatives in the new Congress are already not too hot on special education,” said Marta Anchonod, director of programs for Team of Advocates for Special Kids. “If they get wind of these resolutions, they could withdraw all funding and water down the legislation, taking away its teeth.”