The unions fail to teach kids to read, label them special ed., then collect more money based on that failure. What a racket.
In my charter school, we take kids with I.E.P.'s (individual education plans, Colorado's term for special ed). We have gotten about half of them off the I.E.P.'s after their first year with us. We are the only school in our district to ever get a kid off an I.E.P. Many of them can't read anywhere near grade level. Some have come to us in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade illiterate. They have just been pushed through. No wonder they have been behavior problems. Anyway, when they come to us, they are told if they do all their work, they will be reading by the end of the year. And they are.
Slapping a label on a kid, then ignoring his education should be a crime. Unfortunately, this is what many public schools do everyday. Their philosophy is if the kid didn't learn, there must be something wrong with him.
Our approach is if the kid didn't learn, the teacher didn't teach. This applies to every kid in every class. If the kid is not doing his work, we find a solution before he fails. It may be to have him have his parents sign every homework assignment until he is back on task, it may be moving him to a class that isn't moving as fast until he is prepared. It may be having him check in with the principal every morning to show he has all his material. It may just be having some lessons in being organized. We figure out what the kids problem is and finding a solution that will work.