Advocates worry that budget woes are turning back the clock for kids with disabilities

From the Los Angeles Times:

Faced with a multi-million dollar deficit, the Los Angeles Unified School District has announced plans for massive cuts in spending on services for students with disabilities. Some 200 special education classrooms will be closed, as well as a specialized campus. Among schools targeted for cutbacks is Hollywood’s Frances Blend School for students with multiple disabilities.

“Blend has one adult to every three kids,” said L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines. “Some of those are very, very severe cases, but you have to look at it in perspective. When you fund some of the special ed things, you’re taking from regular kids.” (emphasis added.)

Critics say the cuts reveal a pervasive focus on saving money by limiting services to individual children.

… Serving the disabled costs more than the state and federal governments pay for. The overrun for this year is $628 million from the general fund, which is intended for the district’s regular program.

… About 13% of students in the nation’s second-largest district have a recognized disability. And their education has long been a sensitive subject.

The federal government requires a “free and appropriate” individual program for disabled students but pays only about 17% of the added cost.

… The closing of 200 classrooms will likely force thousands of children into longer commutes to other schools, where average class sizes could grow substantially. At the same time, the district is reducing busing for disabled children to save as much as $7.4 million.

Earlier post here.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 5:50 pm and is filed under budget, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.