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April 4, 2008
Our Children's Educational Future
By Donna Bouclier

Donna Bouclier, Norman Baker and Cecelia Thompson attended the Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Symposium at the Union League.  The purpose of the symposium was to broaden horizons, share information and review best practices related to facilitating effective transitions for young adults with disabilities from a school setting to living and working in the community.  This focus aligns with some of the core values of The Arc of Philadelphia and one of Philadelphia Mental Retardation Services' many initiatives.

The Speaker of the House, Hon. Dennis O’Brien, stressed the key role that each of us plays in making these transitions successful.  It was the Speaker’s hope, and one shared by The Arc of Philadelphia, that the symposium would be the “first step in gathering a unique cross-section of experts, educators, practitioners and families, all focused on better understanding the needs of young adults with disabilities and the best practices that will ultimately shape their lives going forward.”  Not only was the symposium an opportunity to begin a key collaboration with policymakers and our peers, it also gave The Arc an opportunity to share concerns with the Speaker regarding the lack of meaningful implementation of the Gaskin Settlement Agreement. 

A week later, on April 10, 2008, Speaker O'Brien invited The Arc to continue the conversation at his local office in Philadelphia.  We informed him of a very significant fact.  Although, Pennsylvania is in compliance with IDEA Part B standards for children with special education needs aged 6 to 21, as confirmed in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Education (Source A; Source B), the most recent monitoring data from the Office of Special Education Program (OSEP) reveals that Pennsylvania is tied as 46th among the states with regard to providing a least restrictive educational environment (LRE) for children in this age group.(Source; see table 2.2 ) How can this be for Pennsylvania, the home of the Right to Education Public Law 94-142, enacted in 1974 and which later became known as IDEA?  Additionally, Philadelphia has been grouped under Pennsylvania's Tier 1, defined as “the 20 school districts where LRE data indicated the highest potential need for systemic LRE-related improvement.”(Source)

While recognizing the challenge to improving LRE outcomes, the Speaker shared some interesting ideas that we hope will eventually lead Philadelphia and the entire state of Pennsylvania out of its poor LRE status.  Long lasting, meaningful system change must occur, but it will not happen overnight.  IDEA is reaching its 30th year!  You’d think the system would have had enough time to get it right by now!

In the meantime, The Arc of Philadelphia remains committed to challenging the system and offering its support to legislators, policy makers, administrators and especially the families who call us to support them at IEP meetings.  And as mandated by federal law, The Arc of Philadelphia supports the local Right to Education Task Force so that it can pursue one of its primary purposes: “making recommendations that assist in improving, strengthening, expanding (where needed) and monitoring programs and services for school aged children with intellectual disabilities.”  Our collaborative goal is for our children to be educated in accordance with legal mandates.

Our children do not deserve to wait for what is right.  Would you?