Oct 27, 2018, Bradford (PA) Era: Officials: Special education funding not keeping pace with needs http://www.bradfordera.com/news/officials-special-education-funding-not-keeping-pace-with-needs/article_88fa3996-d975-11e8-a1e1-b7065d602388.html
A couple of superintendents with local school districts weighed in on a recent study that reports state special education funding in Pennsylvania is not keeping pace with local needs.
The report, titled “Shortchanging Children with Disabilities: State Underfunding of Special Education in Pennsylvania,” was the result of a study by the state Education Law Center through its “advocacy for parents and caregivers whose children fail to receive services and supports that are needed and are legally entitled to receive.”
… It found that special education funding in Pennsylvania “has been growing far more slowly than expenditures, effectively shifting more of the responsibility for funding special education to local school districts.” …
The report noted that total school district spending on special education in Pennsylvania grew by $1.54 billion over an eight-year period ending in 2017, but state aid for special education during that same period grew by only $72 million.
School districts have to come up with nearly $20 for every state dollar provided for special education in order to cover the expenditure increases, the report added. …
‘The funding for special education has never covered the costs of the mandates” in the district, Pude remarked. “I think that as special education numbers increase in some school districts, they are feeling the financial pressure more and are being more vocal.” …
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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.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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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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