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IX. Contributing Factors Appendix <br />Access for Students with Disabilities to Proficient Schools <br />Access for students with disabilities to proficient schools is a significant contributing factor to fair <br />housing issues. There are more than 600 public schools in Orange County, part of 27 school <br />districts. There is a long history of barriers to education for persons with disabilities in Orange <br />County.10 These included issues with school districts in Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, and Orange, <br />as well as the Capistrano Unified School District which crosses city boundaries. However, this <br />Analysis did not reveal more recent systemic policies or practices driving disparities for students <br />with disabilities. At the same time, school discipline data for Orange County reveals a 4.5% <br />suspension rate for students with disabilities as compared to a 1.9% suspension rate for students <br />who do not have disabilities. Both rates are lower than statewide but still show that students with <br />disabilities face barriers in accessing education that others do not encounter. This data calls for <br />affirmative strategies to reduce school discipline disparities and avoid unnecessary suspensions of <br />students with disabilities. <br />Access to Transportation for Persons with Disabilities <br />Access to transportation for persons with disabilities is a significant contributing factor to fair <br />housing issues in Orange County. The main barrier to transportation for persons with disabilities <br />in Orange County is the lack of public transportation infrastructure generally, including the lack <br />of east -west rail service and rail service in coastal communities and long wait times for buses in <br />the southern portion of the county. Because many persons with disabilities are dependent on public <br />transportation, these problems hit persons with disabilities especially hard. This Analysis did not <br />reveal any systemic problems with the accessibility of major providers' services, such as Metrolink <br />or the Orange County Transportation Authority. Each agency's vehicles generally appear to meet <br />accessibility requirements, and the Orange County Transportation Authority provides required <br />paratransit service through OC Flex. <br />Access to Financial Services <br />Access to financial services is a contributing factor to fair housing issues for Hispanic residents of <br />Orange County. Although this Analysis did not undertake a comprehensive analysis of bank <br />branch locations in Orange County, a limited review of the banks ranked as the three best in Orange <br />County by the Orange County Register revealed disparities in locations served." The highest <br />ranked bank, California Bank & Trust, has nine locations in Orange County, none of which are <br />located in the cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana,12 the two largest cities in the county and areas <br />with concentrations of Hispanic population. Although larger banks like Chase and Bank of <br />1D Rex Dalton, OC Families Face Fierce Fightfor Special Ed Services, VOICE of OC (Sep. 25, 2012), <br />httos://v oic eofoc. org/2012/09/oc-families-face-fierce-fieht-for-special-ed-services/. <br />"Kenya Barrett, Best of Orange County 2019: Best Bank, THE ORANGE CouNTY REGISTER (Sep. 19, 2019), <br />https://www. ocregister. com/2019/09/19/best-of-orange-county-2019-best-bank/. <br />12 https://www.calbanktrust.com/locations/ <br />305 <br />75A-584 <br />