Children with IEP's are guaranteed certain services due to IDEA. If they are denied these services the parents do and will sue and the school system will not only pay for the services, they will pay for damages and all attornies fees.
The attorneys in DC have made a regular cottage industry of suing the school system there. They even advertise on TV for clients.
So do they have a natural, God given right to these things? Course not, but the Congress in all of its collective wisdom gave disabled students certain powers and the attorneys know every loophole and how to ding a system for maximum money.
So given this as a reality, I'd love to know how to reduce expenses. And I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, but a sincere one. Do we lobby Congress for changes in IDEA? Do school systems bend over to every request by parents? I document every single thing I do in the classroom when it comes to accommodations for my special ed kids. If I am sued, I want to be able to defend my actions and show proof of compliance.
That is my reality. It's not a liberal or a conservative position.
" For starters, I am not going to say that schools do not waste money. That would be an indefensible position."
Getting a handle on the waste would be a great first step, which has been my point (and yours?) from the beginning. Killing programs like social awareness issues classes, laptop giveaways, robotics labs, and the like would be an excellent start. in Maine, for example, we have spent tens of millions on redistricting, so that towns that never needed them can get gigantic new schools.
Eliminating the stranglehold of corruption at nearly every level of our educational system maintained by the unions would be my personal second move (although this corruption leads to a huge deal of waste and graft, which is more in keeping with my first point). My grandfather maintained that the unions would be the death of this country, and the teacher's union defines that opinion perfectly.
Cut the waste, cut the beaurocracy.
Your comments are so interesting. I've seen that here in Los Angeles too.
How to reduce costs? How about chucking the entire Department of Education? Wasn't Bush going to do that? There's a cost-saver for you. And then teaching the 3-R's and leaving it at that.
Suing should be totally out of the pix.
I think education has to be fixed from without. The Administrators are not going to be able to reform it, nor the NEA.