June 21, 2019, Greenfield (MA) Recorder: Swift River struggles with state’s special ed funding https://www.recorder.com/Wendell-New-Salem-also-shortchanged-by-state-when-it-comes-to-SPED-funding-26467622 Special education costs are rising. It’s an oft-cited fact given as a partial explanation for increasing school budgets in Franklin County. But the state’s 26-year-old formula for funding public schools, Chapter 70, isn’t keeping up with the increased costs. Couple that with the state mandate that school districts fully fund special education, and it’s easy to see why towns and their school districts are chipping away at other budget line items to fund special education…. Swift River School is a two-town regional elementary school shared with New Salem. In the last five years, Tanner said, the school’s budget has increased 31 percent, but the appropriations to the towns have risen by 41 percent — at the same time, Chapter 70 funding has only increased 7 percent. According to Tanner, special education costs have gone up by 55 percent…. Over the last two years, Swift River saw overall budget increases of 4 percent, then 7 percent — in the same years, special education funding jumped from 18 percent to 23 percent, then 23 percent to 24 percent. … At any rate, something should be done to fix the special state’s education funding system, Tanner said. “We know there are other school systems who have been hit even harder by this trend, but we also know that they are an outlier is some ways,” said Tanner, specifically mentioning neighboring Orange….

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
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