CACSA BLOG:
OCR Investigating Charter Schools for their Enrollment of Students with Disabilities

By Alex Medler
8/24/21

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened a series of investigations into the enrollment practices of charter schools across Colorado. The investigations will explore complaints alleging that charter schools inquire about prospective students’ disability status during the enrollment process, which may lead to discrimination against students with disabilities. OCR confirms that they have received 29 complaints, but it is not clear how many are under investigation or which schools and districts are involved.

At least one notification letter from OCR explains they are investigating complaints that a charter school, “discriminates against individuals with disabilities in the application and admission process by using criteria that screen out or tend to screen out applicants with disabilities. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the School makes pre-enrollment inquiries about disability during the application and admissions process.”

Best practice is to not inquire about disability status until after a student is admitted to a school. CACSA recommends that all charter school authorizers review the admissions materials and processes of charter schools and their websites, and work with charters to ensure they do not inquire about disability status prior to enrollment. In rare cases, i.e., for charter schools that give an admissions preference to students with disabilities, it may be appropriate to inquire about disability status to facilitate the preference. Websites and admissions materials should also not ask about a student’s disability status and application forms and promotional materials should include language stating affirmatively that the school does educate students with disabilities and complies with all applicable federal and state requirements regarding students with disabilities.

The fact that OCR has launched an investigation does not indicate whether they have determined that a complaint has merit. To launch an investigation OCR must determine that they have jurisdiction on an issue and that the complaint is timely. OCR is not required to disclose the source of complaints. No information is available on who brought the issue to their attention and CACSA has not identified all the schools and authorizers subject to the complaints. If you have information on an investigation in your district, please contact Alex Medler directly at Alex.Medler@coauthorizers.org.

This is an issue CACSA has been working on for several years and resources are available to help charter schools and districts adopt best practices. Research earlier this year, conducted by the Center for Learner Equity (CLE) for the Schools of Choice Unit at the Colorado Department of Education, explored enrollment of students with disabilities in charter schools. The CLE study documented that Colorado has the lowest proportion of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) in charter schools of all states with charter schools. In addition, the gap between districts’ and charter schools’ average percent of students with IEPs is the third-worst among states with charter laws. The CLE study examined every Colorado charter school’s website. The review found:

• 61 percent of Colorado charter schools lack descriptions of how they enroll students with disabilities;
• 63 percent of Colorado charter schools’ websites lack pages about or descriptions of how they educate students with disabilities.
• 10 percent publish enrollment policies on their websites that include problematic elements that could be interpreted as exclusionary and do not contain anti-discrimination clauses
• 18 percent use application forms that ask whether a student has a disability with no anti-discrimination clause or statement of purpose.

The CLE report recommended that districts and schools work to educate people about how to handle these issues appropriately and educate charter school leaders and staff about appropriate strategies.

To help districts and charter schools address these challenges, CACSA has partnered with the Collaborative for Exceptional Education (CEE) at the Colorado League of Charter Schools (CLCS) to produce a set of materials. Resources are available to help review and update websites, and materials that can be used to train charter school staff that interact directly with parents are being developed. Both organizations are available to review current procedures and websites and to offer advice. The CEE is ready to work directly with charter schools and CACSA is available to work with districts.

CACSA and the CEE have also been working on potential changes to rules adopted by the Colorado State Board of Education that should be improved to clarify how charter schools and districts appropriately handle the enrollment and consider services for students with disabilities in charter schools. The proposed revised rules include language that would prohibit charter schools from asking about a students’ disability status unless the information is used to provide an enrollment preference. The proposed rule also addresses how charter schools and districts communicate to families of students with disabilities and recommends that there always be an informational meeting with the parents, the charter, and the administrative unit in cases where a child is eventually not served in their chosen school. Feedback on the proposed rule change is welcome.