A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that charter schools nation wide enroll a lower percentage of students with disabilities than traditional public schools. In school year 2009-2010, the most recent year for which data are available, approximately 11 percent of students enrolled in traditional public schools were students with disabilities, compared to about 8 percent of students enrolled in charter schools.
The GAO also found that, relative to public schools, the proportion of charter schools that enrolled high percentages of students with disabilities was lower. Specifically, students with disabilities represented 8 to 12 percent of all students at 23 percent of charter schools, compared to 34 percent of traditional public schools. However, when compared to traditional public schools, a higher percentage of charter schools enrolled more than 20 percent of students with disabilities.
While charter schools said they worked to tailor special education services to individuals’ needs, they reported challenges serving students with severe disabilities. About half of the charter school officials GAO interviewed cited insufficient resources, including limited space, as a challenge.
The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Education take measures to help charter schools recognize practices that may affect enrollment of students with disabilities by updating existing guidance and conducting additional fact finding and research to identify factors affecting enrollment levels of these students in charter schools.
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