June 8, 2018, Maine Wire: School choice under attack in town of Alna http://www.themainewire.com/2018/06/school-choice-attack-town-alna/ One area of impact that the committee, the town selectmen, and the RSU have avoided talking about altogether is the impact of the amendment on the RSU costs for special education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 13 percent of public school students receive special education services requiring individualized education programs (IEP) in the US. For RSU 12, according to Superintendent Tuttle, their rate of IEPs is over 20 percent and growing. One of the largest expenses for a school system is the cost of providing for children with special needs. Alna has cleverly solved for this issue by giving parents the ability to choose a tailor made education for their children, costing the district less money and avoiding the lengthy IEP process.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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