Dec 19, 2018, Red Wing, MN, Farmington Independent: Farmington School Board adopts final budget, 2019 tax levy https://www.farmingtonindependent.com/news/education/4545587-farmington-school-board-adopts-final-budget-2019-tax-levy …District Finance Director Jane Houska offered a detailed summary of the 2019 school levy, approved to be $26,968,507. The levy funds the school for 2019-20. … Since the 2003 school year, Houska said funding for basic general education revenue has fallen behind the rate of inflation. "To the fact as we are looking at today's dollars, we are roughly $618 short," Houska said. "Meaning if per pupil they would have kept up with inflation all of those years, then we would have an additional $618 per pupil." Today, that would translate to roughly $4.9 million more that the Farmington School District would be receiving — or equal to paying for 75 additional teaching staff. Another area within school funding that is driving decisions within the budget is special education. "It really has become a hot topic and the state has put together several tax forms to take a look at special education funding," Houska said. Each year costs for special education go up. The last thing from a public education basis that really has changed since 1992-93, is that today roughly 65 percent of school districts need to hold referendums to keep schools running, Houska said. "Today all school districts need to hold referendums to the tune of $1,371 per pupil," she said. "It just goes to show that in order to keep our buildings going, they needed to go out to taxpayers to seek funding." …
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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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