Aug 10, 2017, Voice of San Diego: When it Comes to Special Education in California Schools, ‘Funding Is Very Unequal’ http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/comes-special-education-california-schools-funding-unequal/
Special education costs are increasing across the state. State funds for special education are inequitably distributed, so sometimes the districts with the highest needs are getting less money per student than districts with lower needs.
In 2014-2015, Poway Unified’s general fund contribution to special education was 54 percent of total special education expenditures, according to the report. In 2015-2016, that number rose to 57 percent and was projected at 60 percent in 2016-17. …
Last year, a San Diego Unified report found that the amount the district needed to kick into special education rose by more than $49 million between 2012 and 2016, because of reductions in federal and state funding and increased special education costs. …
In order to discourage districts from inflating the numbers of students with disabilities in order to get more funding, the funding formula uses overall student enrollment in districts to determine how much each will get. The formula also takes into account cost-of-living adjustments each year.
While the cost of living has increased, overall enrollment in public schools in California has been decreasing, meaning that the amount of special education funding going to localities has been growing slowly. Statewide, the number of students with disabilities has been increasing.
top of page
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.)
CHECK OUT MY SUBSTACK:
https://annedachel.substack.com/
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
Search
bottom of page