Top Takeaways
- School districts in California pay for students with disabilities to attend “non-public schools,” specialized private schools where they can get their needs met — often outside district boundaries.
- Some parents advocate for districts to operate their own local non-public schools to reduce commutes and improve the students’ quality of life.
- Oakland Unified is pursuing a local nonpublic school for the first time.
Lillian Ansari’s daughter, Atrina, endured two years of hourslong commutes from Oakland to Marin to attend her nonpublic school.
Cars provided by Oakland Unified School District shuttled Atrina, then 12, across the busy Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for school commutes that could take up to four hours. One such drive left Atrina, who has tuberous sclerosis complex, autism and epilepsy, “a mess when she got home,” her mom said, recalling her daughter’s tendency to freeze up after disruptions to her routine.
The 100 or so Oakland students who attend nonpublic schools are left with no other option than to commute outside their district’s boundaries because no such schools exist in the city. Students are placed in these private schools by the district, which are specialized for students with disabilities, where they receive tailored support for behavioral learning…