Bush Panel Reports Concerns On Spec. Ed. Vouchers

By Lisa Goldstein

Washington

A national advisory panel on disability issues has raised questions about how a federal special education voucher program could ever work.

The brightest red flag? Students with disabilities would give up protection under federal law when they attend private schools through voucher programs, says the report released by the presidentially appointed National Council on Disability.

The main federal special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, gives parents legal recourse if public schools aren't meeting their children's needs. But if children voluntarily moved to private schools, as many presumably would under a voucher plan, they would leave that security...