CECM State Director Earl Simms recently talked to KOMU 8 in Columbia, Missouri about the organization’s support for legislation (SB 603) that would allow open enrollment in Missouri’s public schools.  Below is the text of testimony given to the Senate Education Committee:

The Children’s Education Council of Missouri (CECM) is in favor of Senate Bill 603 which establishes procedures for open enrollment of public school students across school district boundary lines.  We believe that this bill could help education for special needs families in three key ways.

1.         Open enrollment would allow for families who are not satisfied with the quality of education their district zone school is providing to seek a public school option in another district. Our office receives calls from parents who are frustrated with the execution of their child’s IEP and feel helpless because they cannot afford to send their child to a private specialized school, trapping them in a failing situation.  I would invite the committee to talk to Representative Dwight Scharnhorst, who chaired the Interim Committee on Autism Spectrum Disorders.  At these hearings families testified about their desperation for help with their child’s educational situation and being trapped in a school that was not reaching their child.  At the same hearing, Special School District and Rockwood School District testified on some of the great progress they are making with autistic students.  It would have been great if these parents could have, through open enrollment, sought placement in these, or other, districts that are showing progress with this student population.

2.         Open enrollment would allow for families who have disagreements with their district zone school’s policies and procedures, such as seclusion, restraint and corporal punishment to seek a public school option in another district. I recently had a conversation with a parent of an autistic child who withdrew her child from their local district school and is now homeschooling.  She did this because of her disagreement with how the school was using seclusion and restraint with her child.  As with many parents of special needs children, she could not afford to send her child to a private service provider.  She stated that she would have been interested to have had open enrollment as an option so she could look at other districts in the area to see if they provided good services and she agreed with their policy on these key issues to her family.

3.         Open enrollment would allow neighboring districts to collaborate when planning services for their special needs children. For example, according to data from DESE, Meramec Valley School District in southwest St. Louis County has 21 students with an IEP due to a diagnosis of autism.  By contrast neighboring Rockwood School District has 263 students with an IEP due to a diagnosis of autism.  Transferring students, through open enrollment, from low instance districts to higher instance districts would save districts from hiring a specialized teacher and purchasing specialized teaching tools for only a small number of students.

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