(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
So yes that just happened. Florida students with disabilities got the option to attend private schools at public expense without needing to sue their school district in 1999, with the program going statewide in 2001. Usual caveats apply about always having multiple factors going on etc. but I thought I’d just whip this up and leave it here for you dear reader. Right about this same time the ABC News brought us this story about WV special education:
I know special education teachers in West Virginia and elsewhere are doing a very difficult job and I’d be willing to wager that this sort of behavior is rare. However, the kids who are experiencing this sort of treatment and/or are not being served academically, could use options. The newscaster concludes “hard to hear but hopefully change comes from this.”
Indeed.
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
This is a new low. West Virginia Teachers did not strike for the purpose of denying Special Education students access to services they require. There is absolutely no evidence to support that statement. Inferring that WV Teachers seek to injure SPED students is preposterous. Stick to the debate about the quality of WV schools’ service to SPED students. That is worthy of discussion. Don’t make stuff up.
Opening grafs of the NPR story:
Teachers spent only a few hours striking before West Virginia’s House of Delegates effectively killed a new bill that would pave the way for charter schools and private school vouchers in a state that relies primarily on public education.
Cheers came from the rooms in the Capitol where teachers on strike had assembled, and Fred Albert, president of West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, told The Associated Press, “It was very clear today that the House heard our voice.”
Mike-
That’s not what National Pubilc Radio reported https://www.npr.org/2019/02/19/695856032/w-va-teachers-go-on-strike-over-state-education-bill
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