July 31, 2018, Lakeland (FL) Ledger: Polk County School Board takes step to approve $890M budget — $62M more than previous year http://www.theledger.com/news/20180731/polk-county-school-board-takes-step-to-approve-890m-budget---62m-more-than-previous-year With thousands more students and dozens more teachers over last year, the Polk County School Board on Tuesday took the first step in approving an $890 million budget, $62.78 million more than the final 2017-18 budget…. The budget also includes a one-time allocation from the state of $5.21 million for armed school guardians and $2.4 million for additional mental health counseling for students, instituted by the legislature in March following the shooting massacre of 14 students, two coaches and a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. “Since the Parkland shooting happened, our priorities are a little different than they were a few months ago,” Pitts said. …
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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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