“Laura Brown New Image”
Manhattan’s Federal District Court Judge George B. Daniels ruled earlier this month that hundreds of special education students enrolled in private school at public expense should lose their tuition, because the public school system has the right to try to educate them even if it refuses to offer appropriate programs that would allow students to be successful.
In Hawaii, a similar “silent” voucher program established under previous administrations that allowed special needs students to attend private schools such as Assets at public expense, is now being quashed under orders by Deputy Attorney General Holly Shikada. Shikada, who, according to special education attorneys, is taking all special needs children and their families to a hearing, is challenging this system, despite the fact that the state has not been able to provide special services to these school children.
Shikada’s order has resulted in a rash of frivolous and expensive hearings and a growing bureaucracy as new deputy attorney generals are hired to handle caseloads.
In one due process hearing, the Department of Education