Her son has serious disabilities. She believes she’s the best person to teach him

You know that,” Katherine Walter says to her 11-year-old son, deflecting a swat. “Why?” William asks, half-heartedly pushing his chest into his mother’s open hands. “You are in the red zone,” she says.

“I need you to take it back to the green. What can I do to help you?” A few hours later, Will is curled up in his favorite chair, listening to his mother read. It takes skill and patience to teach Will, who has autism and a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to speak.

The Walters say they no longer trust their school system to educate him without restraining him. Katherine Walter teaches him herself. America’s public education system offers some of the world’s best services and protections for students with disabilities, guaranteed by federal law.

But more parents like the Walters are abandoning their rights to those services. They say public schools are failing their kids and they’re better off teaching them at home. In many states, they’re receiving thousands of dollars from taxpayers to do it.

The Walters initially choose public school Before the Walters even married, they debated where their future children would go to school. Mike insisted their children would attend the same rural Montana school district he did. “He had such a good experience,” Katherine says.

“But I’m not sure the school is the same now.” The Walters’ children also have more complex needs than Mike had. Their oldest child, Lester, 15, has dysgraphia, a neurological condition that made it difficult to learn to write. Along with autism, Will has apraxia, a rare speech disorder.