I believe that, as a parent, I have a right to choose where I want my children to go to school, and I will continue to fight for that right.”

Seventeen percent of students in Massachusetts’s public schools receive special education services, whereas less than 1 percent of private school students do.

In fiscal year 2018, Massachusetts received more than $255.5 million in IDEA for both public and private school students.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) failed to provide proper guidance to LEAs about the aforementioned “proportionate share” process. As a result, many deserving Massachusetts private school students with disabilities have been denied the services to which they are entitled.

It bothers me to think . . . how many kids didn’t get the services they required and how that has impacted their lives. I worry about those kids.

My feeling is I should have every right to educate my child at a religious school, and my daughter should not have to suffer by not receiving services. I can’t tell you how many times I would be in a meeting in Dartmouth and someone would ask ‘Are you sure you don’t want her to go to a public school — it would be a lot easier.

It is the family — not the government at any level — which holds primary duty and right in the education of their children.