Jan 9, 2020, Baltimore Sun: Howard superintendent’s proposed $964 million budget looks to address special education staffing http://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/howard/cng-ho-schools-budget-presentation-20200110-r5xup55ezrgkvffn463jbregoy-story.html Howard County schools Superintendent Michael Martirano is proposing an operating budget of $964 million for fiscal 2021 that addresses special education staffing, the health fund deficit and new general education positions. The $964.1 million budget proposal presented at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting is 7% larger than this year’s adopted spending plan, requesting $670.4 million from the county, $285.6 million from the state — including $7.8 million from the Kirwan Commission — and $8 million from additional sources. Martirano presented an aspirational budget of nearly $1 billion in December 2018 for the current fiscal year. Six months later, after a contentious budget season including position cuts, the school board adopted an $894 million operating budget. While the requested funding is necessary to “maintain current [education] service levels,” Martirano said in a letter Thursday, his “obligation” is to make notice of the programmatic and service gaps that exist within the school system. This year, Martirano included accompanying documents with his proposals, showcasing the nearly $70 million worth of equity gaps in the school system, including social workers, technology teachers and special education staff. An additional document outlined all of the cuts made to the operating budget in the past two years. “My heart ached as they spoke. ... We are critically understaffed in special education and this situation is driving many of our educators to the breaking point.”…
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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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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
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