California Students With Disabilities Can Enroll in Independent Study, Judge Rules

Students in special education who had been denied access to independent study won their first round in court on November 5, when a judge ordered those students’ school districts to reinstate their remote learning plans.

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court in Northern California granted a temporary restraining order to a dozen students who were part of a lawsuit over California’s independent study program. The suit, filed by disability rights groups, claimed that the state discriminated against disabled students by not allowing them to participate in independent study this school year.

When Assembly Bill 130 passed in July, California schools were required to offer in-person classes to all students except the few who qualified for independent study. Some students in special education — such as those with severe cognitive or developmental disabilities that prevent them from wearing masks, or students who were especially vulnerable to Covid — could not attend in-person school for health reasons, but were shut out of independent study because it wasn’t specified in their individualized education programs.

As a result, those students have been at home, receiving little if any formal education.

Last month, Disability Rights California and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund filed the lawsuit, as well as a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, asking the state to take a more active role in ordering districts to include special education students in independent study. That could include funding or changing the independent study law to allow for services such as speech therapy.

In Friday’s order, the judge ordered the California Department of Education to provide funding and ensure the students named in the complaint get the same remote learning plans they enjoyed during the 2020-21 school year, including whatever services they received, such as behavioral or speech therapy. On Nov. 30, the judge is expected to expand the order to include all children in California who have been affected, potentially hundreds or thousands of students.

In response to the complaint, the state recently updated its guidelines reminding districts to comply with federal special education laws, which guarantee all students an education regardless of their abilities. The guidelines encourage parents and school districts to add independent study to IEPs if needed, although the process has been slow in many districts and independent study does not necessarily include extra services like speech therapy.

Excerpted from “California Students With Disabilities Can Enroll in Independent Study, Judge Rules” in EdSource. Read the full article online.

Source: EdSource | California Students With Disabilities Can Enroll in Independent Study, Judge Rules, https://edsource.org/2021/california-students-with-disabilities-can-enroll-in-independent-study-judge-rules/663385 | copyright 2021 EdSource

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