Jan 28, 2019, WITF, Harrisonburg, PA: Pa. school districts stressed over pensions costs, special-ed and charters http://www.witf.org/news/2019/01/pa-school-districts-stressed-over-pensions-costs-special-ed-and-charters.php Many school districts across Pennsylvania say that budget stress is causing them to raise property taxes and cut school programs, according to an annual survey released by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators. The report targets the rise of mandated expenses such as pension obligations, special-education costs and charter school payments as key drivers of budget woes. The annual report is similar to those in years past, and calls for the state to make greater investments in school funding to support the education of the state's 1.7 million public school students. … "We have an education deficit in Pennsylvania," said Jay Himes, PASBO executive director, in the report. "School districts start from behind each year, struggling to find the revenue to cover just the basics...the result is disparate opportunities for students and disparate burden on local taxpayers, much of which could be mitigated with increased state support for education -- particularly if targeted to the areas driving this annual deficit, such as special education." For the 2018-2019 school year, school districts also emphasized their concern for improving the safety and security of their schools. Last year, the state created a new program to provide $52 million in funding for school safety -- a fraction of the more than $300 million that districts requested through a competitive grant process. … Governor Wolf will give his first budget address of his second term next week. During his first term, Wolf's larger education funding requests were met with opposition from Republican leaders and led to protracted budget standoffs.
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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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