June 11, 2017, Kennebec (ME) Journal: Farmington area residents voting on district budget, bond proposal http://www.centralmaine.com/2017/06/11/farmington-area-residents-voting-on-district-budget-bond-proposal/
The proposed budget calls for a $1,148,163, or 3.4 percent, increase over the 2016-2017 budget with the greatest boosts for district special education services and student and staff support.
The proposed special education increases garnered the most conversation during the May 31 session, with some voters questioning what was driving the additional costs. Even with recent increases, however, RSU 9 special education funding lags well behind the state average. In the 2015-2016 school year the district spent $1,391 per student toward special education while state average was $1,953.
District Superintendent Thomas Ward said in addition to new students moving into the district with special education needs, RSU 9 is still catching up on its special education funding levels.
“I was very upfront when I came here. We were terribly underfunding special education,” Ward said in an interview Friday. “And I just said it’s going to take time and over time we’ll do it slowly and we’ll start heading in the right direction and we’ve been able to do that.”
With that underfunding, came legal liability, Ward said, as the district failed to properly serve its special education students. He has argued that increases in special education funding would likely cost less than potential lawsuits against the district
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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.)
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
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