Unique Voucher Case Asserts Gifted 'Special Needs' Student's Rights
by Ed Thomas
November 7, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A 16-year-old prodigy and his single-parent mother are awaiting a ruling by California's Third District Court of Appeals as to whether the public K-12 education system needs to pay for the child's advanced coursework at the University of California at Los Angeles. Levi Clancy has been enrolled in college-level courses since age seven because the Los Angeles Unified School District has no suitable courses for a child at his advanced intellectual level. The Pro-Family Law Center is representing Clancy and his mother, Leila Levi, in a lawsuit that seeks to get the state to pay for the gifted youth's education.
The lawsuit, appealed from Sacramento Superior Court, argues that California law requires that Clancy attend school at his age and that the State Constitution guarantees him a free education. The State Department of Education, however, claims the boy's circumstances do not meet the conditions for "special needs" funding under the law.
Attorney Richard Ackerman, president of The Pro-Family Law Center, argued the matter of Levi Clancy before the Third District Court. "It's essentially a voucher case," he explains, "where we're arguing that the needs of this child, who happens to be highly gifted, are so particularized and so specialized that the only potential remedy to allow this child to be educated is to provide him with a voucher."
Ackerman says while he and his legal group do not believe in judicial activism, "we do believe that federal and state law require that if the public education system isn't able to meet the needs of a student, that they've got to provide a voucher." In fact, he points out, the state already does so for other "special needs" students, who are normally handicapped or academically challenged in some way.
The Pro-Family Law Center spokesman says the Clancy case hinges on the constitutionality of vouchers, which means it could ultimately have nationwide implications. He believes the suit may even help establish precedent for cases throughout the U.S. involving school vouchers in general or involving gifted students and others with special needs.
According to the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, the state has an obligation under the California Education Code to provide Levi Clancy with a "fair, equal and funded education suited to his personal needs." But regardless of the Third District's decision about who should foot the bill for this young man's schooling, Ackerman says he thinks there is a good chance the case will be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
