"Vouchers for the Gifted"

Joanne Jacobs:

Levi Clancy's special needs can't be met by his local public schools, so his mother enrolled him a school where he's able to learn. But the district won't pay the cost, because the 14-year-old boy (aka Levi Meir Levi) is a junior premed at UCLA. The mother's suit for special ed compensation for the "profoundly gifted" -- in this case college tuition -- was heard by the California First District Court of Appeals in Sacramento two weeks ago. The suit asks for vouchers for gifted students whose needs can't be met in the normal K-12 schools. The state says it has no "constitutional duty" to offer a free education beyond the high school level, even to students who are required by law to attend school.

The New York Sun tells the story of a progressive superintendent who eliminated classes for gifted and talented students in her New York City region, driving out middle-class families and radically reducing the number of students who qualify for specialty high schools. In the name of equity, smart kids are denied the chance to learn at their own level.

Janet Mertz has been following the Madison School District Administration's curriculum reduction (without Board discussion/approval) initiatives.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 6, 2006 12:58 PM
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