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Special ed...for profit?
Filed under: Day Care & Education
The worlds of for-profit business and education seem almost fundamentally at odds. However, one man has managed to bring special ed services to almost 8,000 students -- and he's making money in the process.
Mark Claypool used to be a social worker, but got out of the business after watching one too many special ed students get ignored in public schools. Instead of giving up, however, he decided to forge a new path, and is now running Educational Services of America -- a for-profit company with over 120 private and charter schools in 16 states.
And, by many accounts, the schools are a success. They're working with children who have a wide variety of disabilities -- from mental retardation to high-functioning autism -- and are cobbling together funding from tuition, vouchers and contracts with states and school districts. Plus, because of the highly-specialized services ESA offers, for some parents, they prevent a far better option than the local public school.
Others, however, claim that parents lose control over their child's education when they place that child in private schools, and feel that expensive voucher programs only further hinder struggling public school districts. Some reject the idea out of hand -- saying that there's no way an organization that's out to make a profit could also be working in the best interests of their students.
While I agree that, as a society, we have to support public education -- what do you do when your child has needs that your school district simply can't provide? Is participating in the system worth making sacrifices in your own child's education?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
9-10-2007 @ 8:23AM
Sandyone said..." Is participating in the system worth making sacrifices in your own child's education?"
Hell no. Only stupid people do that.
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9-10-2007 @ 10:08AM
SKL said...What is wrong with making a profit for adding value to others' lives? Let these people develop high-impact methods, and the public schools can copy the concepts, if they care enough to.
Not that for-profit education is anything new.
The sad thing is that even after these for-profit entities / individuals develop, test, and prove successful methods and share them with the general public, the people involved with the public schools don't have enough motivation or caring to implement them.
And I'd love to know where anyone got the idea that sending your kids to public school somehow gives you more control over your kid's education than sending them to private school. Get real.
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9-10-2007 @ 10:58AM
Michelle said...Hopefully, we won't be faced with this dilemma. My 3 yr old son is in the county run special ed preschool in the public school system. We're lucky we have this opportunity to, hopefully, help him "catch-up" to his peers before "real" school starts. However, his disabilities are not as severe and wide-ranged as the other children in his class and I fear it will cause some back-sliding and put him at a disadvantage. I really do not want him in the Special Ed classses throughout school, as I have seen first-hand, through my nephew, how they are left behind, academically, and just allowed to slip through the system. At least in our school system.
If it came down to it, and this option was available, I would probably jump on it, and be very involved. Nobody is going to be as big an advocate for my child as I am. I don't expect them to be. Also, even through it is a for-profit school, the administrators still have to abide by certain rules and regulations. They still have to answer to the parents.
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9-10-2007 @ 10:59AM
Tamyu said...How is it that for-profit equals "bad"?
In my eyes, if they`re in it for profit, they have to think of the customers. Losing customer support means they lose money. That alone is a very good incentive for working toward satisfying the customer.
If what they are doing is successful and is working for the children - why complain? In the end, even the people on the bottom of "non-profit" organizations are working for a pay check. And really, it`s silly to compare the public school system to a non-profit organization.
In the end, the only one who can speak up for your child and your child`s needs is you. If you don`t push for the best for them, no one else will. It`s easy to say that sending a child to a private school makes things worse for those in public schools.... But if your child actually has a disability, and good special ed can make the difference between them being dependent upon someone for the rest of their life or being able to live alone....... I think that feelings would change.
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9-10-2007 @ 1:51PM
Sandyone said..."saying that there's no way an organization that's out to make a profit could also be working in the best interests of their students."
That's just a silly idea. Meeting the needs of their students is precisely why they are able to exist. If they stop meeting the needs/serving the best interests, they will stop making money.
I think tutors and tutoring companies fall into the same category. Special Ed teachers in the public school system make more money than the regular teachers.
"Others, however, claim that parents lose control over their child's education when they place that child in private schools"
Pass the crack pipe, please. This is the direct opposite of how to maintain control. You know...you can pick a private school that isn't going to explain oral sex to your 6 year old and tell you to 'get over it...some kids need to know this stuff' when you complain.
Sometimes I marvel that real people actually utter these 'thoughts'.
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9-11-2007 @ 6:17AM
dee said...First, for-profit, special ed schools exist now-it's not a new concept-I work in one of these schools and it's been in existence for 40years.
Couple of other things-special ed teachers most decidedly do NOT make more money than regular ed teachers-it's all based on a union contract in public schools and based on years of experience-so no special favors for the special ed folks-and those of us in the private schools make substantially less than our public school colleagues.
And anyone who thinks they have a say in their child's education in public or private schools is just in dreamland-both public and private school administrators pay big-time lip service to parents and make them think that they have a say in what happens-but in reality, they do not. All one has to do is to investigate the No Child Left Behind Act to discover that-I teach adolescents. They should be taking the ASK 7 or the GEPA test in NJ this year-they will not be doing that-want to know why, because the districts paying their tuitions do not want their scores included because it lowers the scores of the district-so, my kids have to participate in what is called an APA (alternate proficiency assessment)-even though ALL their parents have objected to it-they have NO say in it. It is completely and totally unfair and the state of NJ should be ashamed.
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9-11-2007 @ 10:09AM
Laura said..."saying that there's no way an organization that's out to make a profit could also be working in the best interests of their students."
Are you kidding? Does anyone ACTUALLY believe that public school systems truly listen to the parents of any student - let along the parent of a special needs student? My son has Asperger's Syndrome and it took me 4 years to get a child with an estimated 180 IQ into the gifted program. Why? Because the school system and the gifted program teacher felt that "it would be too much for him". Instead, he got to be bored for 4 years.
If a school is for profit, and does not meet the needs of the students they serve, the students will go elsewhere, and the profit will be gone. There is no incentive in the current public school system to do a good job. That is not to say that there are not many exceptions. But, as a Board Member of a support group for parents and caregivers of people with autism, they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.
"Others, however, claim that parents lose control over their child's education when they place that child in private schools"
Wrong, parents have MUCH MUCH more control in the private school system vs. the public school system. No private school who wants to attract and keep students will treat parents the way that the public school system does in so many cases.
If this program was available in my area, I would jump on it.
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9-11-2007 @ 10:51AM
Julie said...My children are grown however they both need special education services while in school. We could not afford to put them in private schools. We had little to no controlover our kids education at the public schools. We had all the required meeting and all the promises of services however it was more or less just looked good on papre. We had to stay on them to have those education plans they provided us with to even have them remotely followed. Hopefully the schools have improved in the past several years however if I had to do it all again I would put being a stay at home Mom 2nd and do what ever it took to get them in a school that was worthy of teaching the future of our country. Just because a student needs extra help does not mean they are not of value in the future of this country. Remember some of the worlds greatest were dyslexic or disabled in ways of their own.
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9-12-2007 @ 9:48AM
George said...Anyone ever hear of teachers unions? The falling performance of our public schools can be laid at the feet of the unions. What is the purpose of a union? Maximize salary, benifits and job security of its' members. Once you are in they will do whatever it takes to protect you. Job performance is pretty much irrelevant.
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9-11-2007 @ 10:13PM
Susie said...When I a child I was placed in Special Ed because I developed epilepsy. Later in my academic career my parents wanted me mainstreamed into regular education classes but the school refused to do that saying that returning me to regular classes would cost the school money even though I was perfectly capable of doing the work in regular Ed.
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