The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
The Biden administration is considering a slate of new regulations that would severely curtail the ability for states to access funding through the Charter Schools Program (CSP), which help new charter schools open and existing charter schools expand. As the founder of a successful specialized charter school in Arizona, I think of the thousands of kids this would impact.
As the mother of a child on the autism spectrum, I think of my son — and the 1 in 44 children in the U.S. diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) whose education would suffer because of this action.
I was inspired to start the Arizona Autism Charter School after struggling for years to find a school that was right for my son. I tried several options, and none fit. Worse, some treated my son as a problem, not as a priority.
My son needed a solution — as did hundreds of students from across the state with similar stories. I along with some other parents decided to start our own specialized charter school, designed specifically to serve students on the autism spectrum. And it would not have been possible without CSP funding.
We opened our first school in 2014 for K-5 students. Two years later we opened a middle school, and two years after that we opened a high school. We’re the only tuition-free charter school focusing on serving kids with autism in the whole state. Of course, like every public charter school in Arizona, we’re open enrollment — open to every student and family looking for the educational option that’s right for them.
Almost all our current students are classified as students with disabilities and receive special education services. About 75% of students are diagnosed specifically with ASD.
The lack of high-quality specialized options for students with autism has attracted families from all over the country to our schools. Approximately 51% of our students identify as Hispanic and 7% identify as Black. Further, about 76% of our students are eligible for free and reduced lunch.
We exist to catch the kids who otherwise might fall through the cracks — as too many did during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We saw many schools across our state try to wait out COVID — but we knew we didn’t have that luxury. Failure was not an option for our students. While special needs kids went without services for a year or more at other schools across the state, our students received continuous instruction and support both onsite and virtually.
Our schools handled the COVID-19 pandemic better than most schools in the state. Gov. Ducey recognized our efforts, and our most important audience — parents — gave us high marks across the board. We’ve maintained a satisfaction rating of over 90% through the pandemic, and our retention rate remains over 90% year over year.
If our school had not opened in 2014 — thanks to CSP funding — hundreds of kids would have gone without a quality education, as too many children did during the pandemic.
CSP funding is critical to educating our most vulnerable populations. Without it, schools like mine could never get off the ground — they would remain only good ideas.
We’re fostering a culture shift of students with special needs being a priority, not a problem. This is who we are, this is who we want, and this is who we serve. And these are the kids CSP funding most helps.
The Biden administration can make good on its promise to serve vulnerable populations and improve educational outcomes by throwing out these rules. COVID left too many students behind. Specialized charter schools — and the CSP funding that gets them started — are bringing them back to the classroom.
