Don't blame special ed

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Friday, July 18, 2003 | Cindy Waeltermann

[Willie Green]

Many advocates of children with special needs, including myself, are becoming increasingly concerned over the current trend of local school districts to blame rising taxes on special education.

Time and time again, school district officials have blamed their financial woes on federally mandated services required for special education students by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Already faced with many challenges, parents of special needs students are now being blamed for budgetary shortfalls in many local and city schools.

[Willie Green]

Billing Medicaid is "generating revenue"????

Good grief.

[Zipporah]

..that is one reason that schools are so anxious to 'identify' kids as ADD or ADHD and now BD (behavior disorder) kids are special needs. Kids whose behavior is out of control. Typical kids cannot understand why if they curse the teachers, throw tantrums, clearing a room are held to a different standard. This is one of the many reasons teachers can't teach. The schools have become, in a way, asylums.

[raybbr]

In reality, a little known fact is that special needs students create a windfall of financial opportunity for school districts.

Can she really be such an idiot?

Taking money from the left pocket an putting into the right pocket does not constitute revenue.

[LibertyThug]

Time and time again, school district officials have blamed their financial woes on federally mandated services required for special education students by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
If the shoe fits...

How disgusting, we have created monsters of all shapes and sizes with our persistent insistence on creating a culture of entitlements!

I need to go throw up now...

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

Bingo. I have had dozens of "Special Ed" kids in my classes, all with IEPs and "accomodations" galore (I average at least 10-12 combined from all my classes per year). Of them, I think I've had 3 or 4 who were actually special needs kids. The rest were either uncultured minority kids (who get shoved into SpecEd by default, as opposed to teaching them how to behave at an alternative school) or kids whose parents know how to game the system. I would wager that at least 20-25% of my time is spent dealing with these false SpecEd kids, their accomodations, and their lack of discipline. That's 20-25% of my time not spent on teaching...

[El Laton Caliente]

My mother, a retired and now consulting Speech Pathologist and Therapist, has a little different take on this. The Special Ed Teachers are higher paid, have much smaller class requirements and have a far higher percentage number of aides. Other federal requirements include Speech Therapy, Child Psychology, Medical Review of cases and MOUNTAINS of paperwork and reporting back to the Department of Education.

Many times they are saddled with children that are autistic and retarded to the point of no hope. She had one that was blind, deaf, autistic with an IQ estimate lower than a dog, sad, but hopeless. Parents will use the schools as baby sitters for these children when there is no hope of educating them. Many are educated (think trained) within a few years to their maximum potential only to remain in school six and eight years longer.

This not only effects the normal and gifted children, but the resources available to educate the special ed kids that can truly learn and become part of society.

Much of the time the special education classes COST FAR MORE than the reimbursements the school districts receive from the fed’s. I have heard estimates that there is from 1 ½ to 2 professional hours (non-teacher’s aide hours) for each hour a child spends in special ed class.

[elisabeth]

This is ridiculous. As you pointed out, billing Medicare is NOT generating revenue (it's simply more expenditures on the part of the taxpayers). Expenditures per year on a special education student are typically more than twice what they are for a regular education student. See http://csef.air.org/papers/spedex.pdf for details on this.

I am torn on this issue in that I think it is tragic what terrible condition some special education students are in. I visited a special education classroom with approximately five students who could barely function. They were all wheelchair bound, had very little gross of fine motor control whatsoever, and some were blind in addition. One girl had to be fed through a tube in her stomach. They were all in diapers. None of them could speak. My question was what were these children doing in school? I believe these students ranged in age from 6 through about 10. There was no chance of them ever ever functioning beyond the level of a three-month old. Were they even conscious of being in school? I think most of them didn't even live with their parents--they lived in a nursing home. Why spend the money to send these children to school? I didn't really see any benefit. I was wondering whether it is cheaper for the state to send them to school for 6 hours a day, since a teacher's salary is lower than a nurse's? In any case, the situation was horrible tragic.

I am generally against the IDEA mandate of inclusion. I have been in many classrooms where an autistic student or a student with "severe ADHD" (not sure I believe it's a real disorder) were so incredibly disruptive that it really hindered the whole classroom. If I were a parent of a regular education student in that classroom, I would be outraged at the amount of time taken away from learning due to the behavior disruptions of some of the special education students.

Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of taxation and government speding, but if there is one group in society that government should assist, it should be those who have severe disabilities (NOT things like ADD). I don't think it should necessarily be spent on inclusion programs, but I do think large expenditures are necessary to help people with severe disabilities have a comfortable life to the extent possible.

[Incorrigible]

The author could have gone on further about her perception of "revenue".

Yes, it's out of one pocket and into another but the school district perceives that input at revenue.  Something other than local property taxes that need to be voted on.

Now, given that, special-ed kids with real disabilities do cause greater expenditure on the part of the school district.  And yes, according to federal law, they are required to do so (one of those unfunded mandates from Washington you know).

This situation pits the parents of special-ed kids against the school district.  This is not a healthy situation for all parties.

I would prefer charitable resources be used for this type of spending instead of on diseases that could easily be prevented by changing behavior.  Alas, this is not the case and thus as a society, we are taxed to be compassionate.

It's difficult for a FReeper and parent of an Autistic 4 year old to belly up to the public trough but there's hope for my son's future that he will be less of a burden on the public than if we did not do so.  And let me tell you, it's a major pain to get the appropriate education for my son.  The schools are NOT just giving it away.  If he didn't have such a strong willed mother (and dad) regarding his education, he would be a recluse today instead of an emerging little boy.

[myprecious]

the aides who are appointed to children with special needs are paid on the average of $7 to $8 per hour

The aides are the cheapest part of the equation. I am one of those aides and do the job out of a calling and love. The REAL money goes elsewhere:

1. A director of special ed.

2. Assistant director

3. Admin staff

4. Full compliment of office equipment that duplicates regular school. (Adults do not share well.)

5. Diagnostitian

6. Speech therapist

7. Occupational therapist

8. A multi-sensory room that has fancy toys like the 2 bundles of fiber optic cable that cost $1000 each, gym quality tread mill, so on.

9. A full fleet of little busses that travel long distances often to pick up only a few children. One bus travels 50 miles to take a deaf kid to another county for special class, driver comes 50 miles back to be aide in our county, then repeats for afternoon - 200 miles each day.

10. The extreme medical needs are taken care of by a nurse and lots of expensive equipment.

11. Psychologist

The list is much longer, but you get the idea.

The kids that do generate the money are the ADD and emotionally challenged kids. They don't really use much of these resources, just pulling them out into smaller class a few times a day to do under grade level work. They are a cash cow.

[The Great RJ]

My wife was a school nurse for many years and saw kids with severe disabilities that left them in what could only be described as a "vegitative state" being "mainsteamed" into regular classrooms, albeit with one or more aides doing their work. For the parents it amounts to free day care until their child is 21.

I also teach in the school district and have had students with no physical disabilities, but who are clearly unable to function at anywhere near their grade level--e.g. 7 & 8 grade students who cannot read or write, being placed in foreign language classes with their aides doing their work while they look off into space.

To me this is not only a waste of money, but fails to give these kids the kinds of help they really need.

[afraidfortherepublic]

And let me tell you, it's a major pain to get the appropriate education for my son. The schools are NOT just giving it away.

So true. My daughter and her husband have had to hire an attorney, a child advocate, and several special consultants to get a fair shake for their autistic son. So say nothing about dozens of speech and OT therapists out of their own pocket to supplement what is done in school. He could not get appropriate help until they sued the school district and faced them with all their "hired" authorities. Then they got 100% of what they were asking.

All this to get the school to meet the Federal mandates. The schools would like to dump all responsibility for education of an autistic child onto the private sector, and then the public school will never take the child back. There are far more children in need than placements available. My daughter says that this is the case with all of the families in her part of NJ. They get nothing until they sue.

[Renegade]

We have two teachers of special ed kids in our school that both have only THREE children in a class -WITH AN AIDE to boot !!!!!
They get paid on the same salary guide as myself who has a total of 110 children in six different classes ( with mainstreamed special ed). Go figure why the programs cost so much ..I also have to deal with pseudo-special ed children who in reality need a kick in the a$$ attitude adjustment . It will do wonders for correcting their learning disability .
The other irony is that I TEACH special ed kids within a regular classroom , yet I am not qualified to apply for a special ed job ????

[Renegade]

My son was a substitute teacher in my schoool building . He subbed for special ed one day . His quote " Dad, I had one class today where I went to the library with ONE STUDENT ( eighth grade ) and read to him out of a book for two periods of the day ."

[tcostell]

We have your children... so keep quiet and give us all your money!"

The NEA.

[nothingnew]

How many people lost their jobs?

FMCDH

[gitmo]

I have a child with a number of disabilities that effect (or is it affect? I can't ever get those words straight) both behavior and control of limbs. I took him out of public school because they can't deal with it. He's now homeschooled and doing well. We had some (extremely expensive) special testing done on him. In a number of areas he's 8-10 years ahead of his peers, and in other areas he's 4-5 years behind.

But I found that if the publics couldn't force him into a cookie cutter mold they weren't interested in working with him.

[dogbyte12]

I have a different perspective I guess because I work in special ed. I work with the lowest of the low functioning kids. Children who are blind, quads, profoundly mentally retarded, and honestly, for some of these kids it is just a baby sitting service. What else are we to do though? There is no way a parent can honestly afford the care it requires to keep these kids alive. These kids need dedicated care around the clock. Perhaps school is not the proper setting for the very lowest of the kids, but home care should be given as an alternative. I can tell you that having an assistant at even $15 an hour for 8 hours a day at the parents house, is a lot cheaper than sending the kid on the bus, with a teacher, a principal, a psychologist, a speech therapist, an adaptive PE teacher, an assistant's portion of salary dedicated to the care of that child.

There really are no easy answers to this situation. Medical technology is keeping children alive who a generation ago, wouldn't make it past the age of 1. The cost is enormous. The ADD issue is another ball of wax. But for profoundly disabled kids, the costs are amazing.

[raybbr]

I am very sorry to hear about your son. We have a 10 1/2 month old and I still worry whether he'll develope autism. So far he is very healthy. My prayers go out to you. (I don't know what my attitude would be in your sitution.)

Regarding this article I was focusing on the author's inability to recognize that public school spending comes from all taxpayers regardless at which level.

[LibertyThug]

I think it's wonderful that you took the responsibility of educating your child
into your own hands.

[steplock]

Related Story

By Jonathan Potts
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Saturday, April 27, 2002
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_68575.html

Disability funding debated

The state Department of Public Welfare is considering limits on state-provided therapeutic services for autistic children, a move that has angered parents who say their children need those services to overcome their disabilities.