State averts takeover of special ed system

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

The state's special education system yesterday avoided a takeover by the federal courts with an extension to at least March 31 of the deadline to bring every campus up to federal standards.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra said he will not appoint a receiver over special education services.

The state has achieved substantial compliance with the Felix consent decree, which orders the Department of Education and Department of Health to improve special education services, and is moving in the right direction to meet the court's springtime deadline to move all of the state's schools into compliance, Ezra said.

"The bottom line is there will be no takeover of the public education system today," Ezra said.

Ezra has had oversight of the system since the state signed the Felix consent decree in 1994, agreeing to improve services. After seven years of missed deadlines, Ezra said this fall that he was giving the state one last chance to avoid a receiver.

The Felix consent decree stemmed from a 1993 federal class-action lawsuit that accused the state of ignoring the needs of mentally disabled children.

Plaintiffs' attorneys argued yesterday that the state cannot back up its claims that it has met the court's requirements for compliance.

"I think the state painted a somewhat more glowing position than what they can prove," said attorney Eric Seitz, who represents some 12,000 Felix-class children.

Despite the lingering problems, there is acknowledgment that the state has dramatically improved services and has come very close to meeting expectations of federal law.

Ezra said that appointing a receiver would be too punitive for a system that has made "light years" of progress.