Why Special Services For Homeschoolers?

Because of a recent policy change thrust upon us by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), New York homeschoolers are confronted with a critical situation. As of January, 2008, NYSED has eliminated special services for all special-needs homeschooled children. For the details and the actions you need to take, please read both this article and the Call to Action.

But wait a minute; you say you don’t have a special-needs child, so how could this possibly affect you? Or you might say that homeschoolers have no business getting any services from the government anyway, so why is this change a problem? Let’s take a moment to examine these issues.

Why Homeschoolers Should Be Able to Receive Special Services

There is substantial anecdotal evidence that special-needs homeschool students thrive in ways that are far beyond the expectations of professionals. This underscores the importance of a loving, caring educational environment (homeschooling!) on child development; an effect that is likely intensified in children with disabilities. However, in many cases special services and therapies are necessary in order to enable learning and skill development in the child. These services can be very costly because they often need to be administered by trained professionals and can require expensive, specialized equipment.

Federal law requires that States provide public school students with physical and learning disabilities with the services necessary to enable them to receive an appropriate education. Until the recent policy change, it had been NYSED’s policy to provide special services to New York homeschoolers on nearly the same basis. Because the vast majority of children attend public school, it is virtually public policy now that children who need special services in order to learn and progress are eligible to receive them, that is, except for homeschool children.

Some homeschool parents with disabled children have chosen not to receive special services for which they are eligible. However, the specialized nature and/or cost of some needed services puts them beyond the financial capability of parents who would otherwise choose homeschooling for the benefits that it holds for their special-needs child. Furthermore, it is often not even the cost that is the prohibitive factor. Many special services are provided to school districts by agencies under contract to that district. Often these agencies, which may be the sole providers of certain services for a region, do not accept private cases, i.e., they do not accept clients except under the auspices of the school district contract. This leaves some families unable to obtain needed services at any price. Therefore, for New York to now require public school attendance in order to receive these services is to effectively deny some parents the right to homeschool, which is an otherwise valid and legal educational option. This seems especially ironic considering the benefits that special-needs children often receive from being schooled at home.

Thus, the net effect of this policy change is to effectively force many parents to place their special-needs children in the public schools so that they may receive needed services. If, as accused by some, the State is hoping to benefit from the short-term savings by not providing services, this makes for a rather ironic situation because it is likely to cost more to provide these services to the child in a public school environment than in a homeschool environment. This is because homeschool parents often participate in providing these services under the direction of a professional. Furthermore, by continuing to deny needed and beneficial services to homeschool children may mean that some of these children may not achieve a level of independence and self-sufficiency that they would have with services, thereby exposing the State to further costs from institutionalization and/or welfare as adults. As you can see, this is really a penny-wise and pound-foolish policy.

The State of New York and its school districts are already reaping a financial benefit of approximately $200 million by not having to educate the over 20,000 homeschooled students in the state. New York shouldn’t be allowed to try to receive even more economic benefits (despite the false economics as just described) by denying some of its most challenged young citizens those necessary services which are provided to nearly every other child who needs them. This is a matter of the most basic fairness. It is this writer’s opinion that these necessary special services should be made available to all families who are determined to need them (and want them), regardless of the mode of education, or the services should be provided to no one. The State of New York should not be able to use the provision of necessary services to effectively coerce parents to place their special-needs children in the public school when their real desire is to homeschool them.

Why This Policy Change is a Real Threat to All New York Homeschoolers

In terms of the speed at which government usually moves, NYSED made this policy change in the blink of an eye. There was no consultation with homeschoolers or homeschool groups, there was no public hearing or comment; there was just a sudden and abrupt change to a policy going back at least 17 years, in response to a recently issued, but faulty legal opinion. NYSED has since sought to justify its actions by saying that it only affects about 450 homeschooled students currently receiving special services. This really misses the point because those 450 students are those who may be the most at risk. It reduces the practical viability of homeschooling for these families.

As Christians, we are called to look out for those among us who are the weakest and most at risk. As fellow homeschoolers, we need to stand together against the coercive power of the State. Even in a democratic society in which we are blessed to live, the State has enormous collective and bureaucratic power which it is able to wield against an individual or a small group thereof. (Just try arguing with the IRS if you don’t believe me). All homeschoolers need to take the time and effort to respond to this action and multiply the relatively small number of special-needs homeschoolers to be a much greater multitude in the eyes of New York. Jesus tells us that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Let’s band together and support those who need our help the most.

However, perhaps even more critical is the importance of responding to the impropriety of how the policy change was made. As indicated above, it was made abruptly without consultation, public hearing or comment. For years, NYSED has been telling homeschoolers that improvements couldn’t be made in the homeschool regulations without extensive hearings and participation by all manner of parties. But now it seems that when it pleases them, they can just change long-standing policies unilaterally in a heartbeat. The precedent of this policy change puts all homeschooling rights at potential risk because our practical rights to homeschool in New York are largely dependent upon regulation and policy, rather than on statute and constitution.

Therefore, this policy change must not stand without vigorous opposition, OR all homeschoolers are at risk for what NYSED might conceive to do next. Letting this change stand without opposition will only embolden NYSED in its future dealings with homeschoolers. Today it is the special-needs homeschoolers, a relatively small minority; but what or who will it be tomorrow? If you don’t have a special needs child, or if you don’t even know of one, I ask you to contemplate the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor during WW2: “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Therefore, the entire LEAH Board strongly urges all homeschoolers to read Call to Action, and “speak out” now by taking the actions requested. All we are asking for is for a return to the same policy on special services that has served New York homeschoolers well for so many years. Please help stand up for special-needs homeschoolers as well as helping safeguard all our rights to homeschool in New York.