State sued on special ed student separation

Thursday, June 28, 2007

BY JOHN MOONEY

Star-Ledger Staff

A coalition of advocacy groups has filed a federal lawsuit against the state that contends thousands of special education students are being wrongfully educated in segregated classes, bringing to court a long-running sore point for New Jersey.

The groups say in the 40-page complaint filed in federal District Court in Newark that New Jersey's policies and funding allow, if not encourage, districts to serve a majority of their disabled students in separate classes and schools.

The state serves about 43 percent of its children with disabilities in predominantly general education classes, well below the national average of about 55 percent, according to the most recent data.

More glaring is the 10 percent who are placed in separate schools altogether, by far the nation's highest rate. And the lawsuit contends the use of separate classes or schools is especially high among some students, including those in preschool, black and Hispanic children.

"If New Jersey approached the national average (for separate classrooms)," reads the lawsuit, "almost 13,000 fewer children would be in segregated placements."

They would include those like a girl cited in the complaint who was denied mainstream preschool after the district told her parents "that it did not offer inclusion unless so ordered by the courts." Other districts said they couldn't afford such programs.

The plaintiffs in the case are New Jersey Protection & Advocacy Inc., Education Law Center, the Statewide Parent and Advocacy Network of New Jersey and the Arc of New Jersey. The defendants are the state Department of Education, state Education Commis sioner Lucille Davy and the state Board of Education.

For years, the advocate groups have fought for more mainstream education, or "inclusion," for the state's 230,000 students with disabilities.

Backing them up is state and federal law that demands students be served in "least restrictive environment" that is appropriate, and advocates and families have maintained that such mainstream classes are critical for their children to learn and to socialize.

Yet New Jersey has struggled meeting these demands, especially in sending thousands of students into separate schools altogether. New Jersey has nearly 400 such schools, public and private, and it is not rare that families clamor to get into these programs when they are dissatisfied with those in the district.

State officials have recently been aggressive in pressing districts to provide more inclusive programs, setting broad goals for bringing down the separate- placement numbers in the next five years. Nearly $19 million was earmarked this year for in-district programs as well.

Still, officials have acknowledged that for all their efforts, they have yet to see much progress in the overall numbers. Yesterday, they would not comment on the lawsuit, other than to say they re main committed to inclusion.

"We stress the need for special education students to be educated alongside their non-disabled peers," said state spokesman Jon Zlock. The advocates maintain the state must back up its words with tougher actions, and they hoped the lawsuit would force its hand. They acknowledged the difficulty of overseeing 600-plus districts, but said too often, the state still won't act forcefully.

"When they do find a problem," said Joseph Young, deputy director of New Jersey Protection & Advo cacy, "there is a lot of carrot kind of responses and not enough sticks."

Others said the state has clearly stepped up its efforts, but they are not enough.

"Nothing they have promised will happen meaningfully within the academic lifetime of children now in school," said Ruth Lowenk ron, an attorney with the Education Law Center. "This lawsuit was the only way for something meaningful to happen."

And they stress that it is not just about shifting the numbers to more inclusion, but also providing appropriate supports and other programs for children once they are in mainstream classes.

"We don't want to just be moving from no inclusion to more inclusion without the services these children need," Lowenkron said.