Guest Post: MCEA disagrees with UFT Randi Weingarten

It is very interesting that in August 2007 UFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement following Governor Spitzer’s approval of legislation placing the burden of proof in special education hearings back onto school systems in New York State:

This is a big victory for parents of children with disabilities because it recognizes that most parents don’t have the means to hire a lawyer to fight school districts for what their children need. The union pushed so hard for this because, more often than not, it’s the special educators and support staff that stand alone with parents to advocate for parents of kids with special needs. So we would like to thank Gov. Spitzer and our elected representatives in the state Legislature for correcting the situation and removing this unfair burden on needy parents. 

http://www.edwize.org/victory-for-parents-of-special-needs-kids

Yet here in Montgomery County the MCEA [Montgomery County Education Association/teachers' union/Apple Ballot] opposes putting the burden on the school system, stating that:

The legislature may be asked to consider legislation which would shift the burden of proof in appeals of IEP’s from the litigant, in this case the parents of the student, to the school system. We ask that you oppose such legislation- while we agree that parents of poor and minority students need greater access to information and assistance in advocacy for their children, we do not believe that shifting the burden of proof would achieve this goal. It would, rather, increase the amount of record keeping for both Special and general education teachers. It is not low income families* who are hiring lawyers to file due process appeals. This shift would create a further imbalance between the haves and the have nots. 

http://www.mceanea.org/pdf/2013LegBreakfast.pdf

----------------------------------------------

* Note: All families can, and do, get legal representation when they need it.  MCEA has not done a survey of the income of MCPS families to be able to make such an absurd statement.  In fact, on this blog we have shown that one small child that was being raised by a relative did obtain legal representation. MCPS fought that one small child as hard as they could.  In the end, MCPS lost, but the fight cost taxpayers almost $100,000.