April 25, 2017, Ithaca.com (Ithaca, NY): Lansing school district budget tax levy sees large increase http://www.ithaca.com/news/lansing/lansing-school-district-budget-tax-levy-sees-large-increase/article_6e0c7b30-2477-11e7-8133-af9232b80407.html The Lansing Central Schools Board of Education unanimously passed a $29,152,000 budget at its Monday, April 12 meeting, an increase of 3.94 percent over last year due to the loss of taxes on a local PILOT. The long-awaited, though not sought after, decline in the valuation of the Cayuga Power Plant is decreasing the total Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) budget line by 27.58 percent. The result will be an increase in property taxes as the proposed tax cap levy will rise from $17.2 million last school year (2016-17) to $18,345,539 the upcoming school year. It’s an increase of 3.94 percent. … Instructional costs will increase 5.08 percent based on more special education needs. King said some have already been taken cost-wise this year and there are some coming up they’ll know they need to spend. Transportation is also up 3.06 percent due to special needs. King said the buses are going a long way and the closest programs for children with autism are in Binghamton and Cortland, “which is why we’re hoping BOCES expands,” she 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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