From the Los Angeles Times:

Actor Ed Asner was among a group of 200 parents and advocates who turned out at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters this week to criticize expected cuts to special education programs. The cuts will reverse progress for students with disabilities, they said.

Asner, whose grandchild receives special education services in Los Angeles, said

students were at risk of being relegated to “a barebones education that essentially dooms their future.” He added: “Moving down this dangerous path will doom many of these children to prisons and homes costing much more money than the education that we have promised them.”

Parents raised concerns about a consolidation plan that could lead to larger class sizes, and the possible channeling of students away from inclusive classrooms to more segregated settings.

From Topeka Capital-Journal,  AP/ABC News:

An estimated 600 people with disabilities and their allies rallied at the Kansas state Capitol Wednesday in a show of support for social services and higher taxes, saying legislators have a responsibility to protect people who are vulnerable. Hours later, an opposing group of about 300 rallied against tax hikes.

The disability advocacy rally was the culmination of a monthlong “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” relay across the state organized by InterHab Inc., a network of service providers.

Bill Craig, president and CEO of the Paola-based Lakemary Center, said the waiting list for people with developmental disabilities seeking services [in Kansas] now exceeds 4,000 and continues growing. At the same time, he said, people providing care to those with developmental disabilities hadn’t seen regular cost-of-living pay raises even before having their pay cut 10 percent because of Medicaid cuts.

“We struggle to keep up with local fast food restaurants as employers,” he said.

Kansas legislators face a $510 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year. Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson is seeking to raise taxes to prevent budget cuts.

From the Lawrence [KS] Journal-World, WDAF Kansas City, KWCH-TV Kansas City:

Kansas disability rights advocates pleaded with state lawmakers to roll back a planned 10 percent cut in Medicaid funding, saying that the $22.7 million reduction would put the lives of vulnerable people at risk.

At a Capitol news conference Friday, advocates said the proposed cuts would end up costing more because they would force the state to place people in more expensive nursing homes.

“It’s just mind-boggling that we would cut those services only to force people into institutions which are going to cost taxpayers more dollars,” said Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas.

He said policymakers don’t understand that the cuts “are real and are devastating people’s lives, and without restoring those cuts, it’s only going to get worse.”

From the Los Angeles Times:

California Gov. Schwarzenegger’s most recent budget proposal would close 327 adult day healthcare centers centers throughout the state, with an estimated cost savings of $135 million in fiscal 2011. The centers serve 37,000 low income participants of all ages who have disabilities and chronic conditions including brain injuries, dementia and diabetes.

Advocates estimate that closing the centers would end up costing the state more money. More than 40 percent of current participants would end up in nursing homes and others would be hospitalized, said Lydia Missaelides, executive director of the California Assn. for Adult Day Services.

Eliminating adult day healthcare services would affect family members as well as participants, operators said.

“They would have to figure out how to take care of their family members,” said Cástulo de la Rocha, chief executive of AltaMed Health Services Corp., which runs Golden Age and seven other centers in Southern California. “It would impact their jobs.”

The Boston Globe reports that special education costs in Massachusetts school districts have soared over the past five years, rising at double the rate of other school costs in many districts. Special education now accounts for 20 percent of school costs statewide; 17 percent of students are identified as having disabilities.

Among the reasons for the increase: More students have severe disabilities than in the past, thanks to medical care that is saving the lives of children who might have died a generation ago. At the same time, cuts in state and federal aid mean financially strapped school districts must take funds from general education to sustain mandated special education services.

“The children deserve these services and we’re required to provide them,” said Peter Schafer, superintendent of Abington schools. “The problem is that these services are expensive. We’re given responsibility but not given the resources to fulfill the responsibility.”

From AP/Business Week:

Special Olympics organizations around the country are cutting back on services and staffing as contributions and sponsorships decline. Special Olympics Inc. saw its year-end assets fall to $58.4 million in 2008, a 33 percent drop from $87.8 million in 2007. The Washington-based parent organization reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars when the stock market tanked in 2008.

Economizing measures by groups around the country range from the elimination of some mountain sports in Northern California to the suspension of statewide games in Oregon. Special Olympics Tennessee has stopped allowing new participants in some events, reduced the number of participants in others, and frozen salaries.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Financially struggling school districts across the country are taking advantage of a provision in federal law that allows them to divert federal stimulus funds earmarked for special education, using the money to ease their dire budget situations.

Advocates complain that students with disabilities are being shortchanged, while school administrators say shifting the money allows them to avoid layoffs and preserve programs that benefit a wide range of students. State officials acknowledge that they are lowering standards for graduation and drop-out rates for students with disabilities in order to qualify to shift the funds under the law.

“This is a slap in the face,” said Candace Cortiella, director of the Advocacy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit that advises students with disabilities. “This is historic funding that could have had a huge impact with [special-education] students, and states and districts have instead chosen to minimize the amount of good.”

James Notter, superintendent of Florida’s Broward County Public Schools, called the provision “an absolute salvation” for his district. “It’s about getting to the next day,” he said.