Thank you very much to Michelle for allowing me to guest-blog on her site. I appreciate the invitation very much.

In my other life outside blogging, I’m a teacher at a relatively new, yet successful charter school in Raleigh, NC and, as such, I’m very interested whenever I see news about education. I think this Supreme Court decision that came out yesterday is a very good decision in favor of common sense. The case involved the parents of a student with disabilities. They didn’t think that the school was meeting the needs of their son who has an unspecified learning disability. So they pulled him out of the public school and put him in a private school and then sued to have the public school in Montgomery, MD to pay the $17,000 tuition. They claimed under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act that the public school had to pay for the private school since they weren’t providing an adequate education for their son.

Wisely, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school system and against the parents in a 6:2 decision. John Roberts did not vote since the case was argued only two days after he took office. Ginsburg and Breyer dissented. We can all feel for this family and their attempt to find the best education for their son. And I’m not always a big supporter of public schools and their ability to address the individual needs of all students. But imagine the can of worms that would be opened up if the Court had found for the parents. I have no idea if the school was failing their son or not. But who should be the judge of that? Do we want to set up the court system to be the ultimate judges of what an adequate education is? Can’t you just imagine that, if they’d found for the parents, that all over the country parents would be running out to find experts to swear in courts that their child’s needs weren’t being met in the public schools. School districts would have to choose between footing the bill for private schooling for countless students or with spending huge lawyer fees to try to prove that they’re doing all they can to help the child. I have my own many criticisms of how the public schools often operate, but I can envisage what a boondoggle such a ruling could have become.

And if we’re going to start sue schools to pay for private schools for inadequate schooling for disabled students, why stop there? Why not bring suits for inadequate schooling for other students? My state of North Carolina states in its constitution,

The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.

If parents think that their child is not getting an “education” in the public school, they could sue to have the school system pay for private schooling. They could go to court and get experts to define what an “education” is and swear that, due to discipline problems, inadequate textbooks, poor teachers, etc. that their child is not getting that education. Do we really want to see decisions about education being made in courtrooms? Apparently, Justices Ginsburg and Breyer have no qualm about setting their judgment above that of school officials, but this is a dangerous path that we should avoid in all but the most egregious violations of schools’ responsibility. In many cases in the past the Court has found that they did not want to insert their judgment for that of the local administrators. I’m glad that they continued that trend in this case.

Instead of going to court, think of how a voucher system, or at least charter schools, can address this problem. If you don’t think that the regular public schools are providing your child with an adequate education, you could go elsewhere. The public schools would get the message if they started to see their numbers decline and a little competition would do them good. Businesses stagnate when they have no competition and schools are no different. I blogged on my own page in my review of Joanne Jacobs’ inspirational book on one charter school in San Jose, California, on how I think charter schools are providing an excellent opportunity for unleashing the creativity and inspiration of so many dedicated people across the country. There are all sorts of charters out there. There are charter schools specifically dedicated to treating students with special needs. If there were such a school in Montgomery County in Maryland, these parents wouldn’t have needed to resort to the Supreme Court.

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