Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for September 10, 2006 SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Proposed cuts hurt special education

BY JIM MUIR, THE SOUTHERN

Proposed cuts in federal funding for special education expenses could cost the state of Illinois more than $132 million.

In turn, the reduction will result in a dramatic decrease in funding for disabled and low-income students in Southern Illinois.

Sen. Dick Durbin. D-Ill., has led the charge in recent days protesting the proposed cuts. Durbin said the decrease in funding will force school districts to cut deeper into regular education programs if they are no longer reimbursed for mandated special-education services.

Durbin said the late Sen. Paul Simon was the architect of the bill that provided funding for special needs children.

"What this bill did was to say that kids with disabilities would have equal access to mainstream education," Durbin said. "These are special needs kids that many times cannot sit in the classroom like other students."

Durbin said when the legislation was passed the federal government agreed to provide 40 percent of the funding for school districts to implement the programs, a figure that was never met.

"The federal government has never even reached half of that number, the most we have ever contributed is 19 percent of the cost of special education for these students," said Durbin. "Every year, school districts absorb a tremendous amount of the cost for these kids and their education. We have failed in several attempts to create additional funding for these students."

Durbin said the second part of the issue is that the federal government has provided help to school districts through Medicaid funds for such things as travel, speech pathologists, physical therapists nurses and counselors.

"The Medicaid program is the one that is at risk," said Durbin. "That is the one that is at risk and could be eliminated by an executive order by President Bush."

Durbin cited an example noting how a school nurse currently might spend half of a typical day treating disabled students and the remainder of the day helping students with routine medical issues.

Under the proposed cuts, a district would be forced to pay the entire cost of that nurse, instead of getting part of the salary reimbursed. He also added that in some cash-strapped school districts, nurses could be forced to divide their time between multiple schools and devote all their time to working with special-education needs.

"Currently, 40 percent of the school districts in the state are not balancing their books right now and to have this cut in federal funds at this point could create a tremendous hardship," said Durbin.

On the local level, the proposal could have a big impact on local school districts, according to Vickie Glenn who coordinates the federally funded administrative outreach program for Tri-County Special Education in Murphysboro.

Glenn said the program generated more than $3 million dollars last year for 19 school districts in Jackson, Union and Perry counties.

Glenn said those funds will be in jeopardy if the proposed cuts become a reality.

"Without these funds, school districts will not be able to financially provide the mandated services such as nursing services, social work and speech therapy to low-income students in special education," said Glenn. "The loss of these funds will cause special education students as well as regular education students to suffer. Jobs will be lost, class room sizes will increase and it could ultimately close some schools."

Glenn illustrated her point by noting that if the slash in funding takes place Carbondale High School alone would lose $402,000, Murphysboro High School would lose $219,000 and Du Quoin High School would lose $195,000.

"These services are mandated by the federal government and if the funds are cut the services are still mandated," said Glenn. "So, even if the money is not there the school districts still have to provide the services."

President Bush's 2007 budget proposal would end all Medicaid payments for transportation and special-ed administration. The final budget is set for approval by October, when the new fiscal year starts.

Rep. John Shimkus said he has been in contact with several school districts in recent days and is optimistic that a solution can be found. Shimkus said he has been working to establish meetings between officials with the Department of Education, representatives from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services and school administrators.

"The debate here on these school-based clinics is that the (Bush) administration is saying that Medicaid healthcare spending should go to Medicaid healthcare individuals," said Shimkus. "If you have Medicaid spending going to other folks that are not eligible, then you are diluting the pool of Medicaid dollars that are qualified to receive those. If people are receiving these benefits who are not Medicaid-eligible, then I believe you could consider that an abuse."

The costs for these programs have climbed in recent years because states and school districts have become more adept at securing federal money and Durbin acknowledged that there had been abuses in the system.

"In fairness, there have been some abuses here," said Durbin. "There have been school districts that have abused these funds, whether that took place in Illinois; there is no excuse for that. But we have to tighten up the program; we don't want any money wasted.

"But to eliminate the program is really overreacting and will be very hurtful."

Peter Ashkenaz, a spokesperson for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, disagreed with the dire predictions about the proposed cuts.

"We believe the financial impact on the schools will be minimal," said Ashkenaz. "It doesn't impact the services the children receive."