Life hasn’t been a cakewalk for Monica Sandoval, a mother with
four of her five kids struggling with severe learning
disabilities.
Hollister – Life hasn’t been a cakewalk for Monica Sandoval, a mother with four of her five kids struggling with severe learning disabilities.
But a new bill, signed by President George Bush in December, stands to help parents like Sandoval by giving them more control in deciding what is best for their disabled child’s education.
The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires schools to provide an education of equal quality to students with disabilities, is not new. But after years of criticism from parents, teachers and administrators, it has been revamped to deal with some of the problems plaguing the law: Too much paperwork, misidentification and rigid instructional plans that could only be updated once a year.
In spite of the changes in the classrooms, however, school districts still must find a way to pay for the expensive programs with little help from the state and the federal government.
The sticking point with special education classes is that they have a smaller teacher-to-student ratio and costly equipment such as vans with wheelchair lifts. All are required by IDEA, but they add up quickly, especially since California only funds about 17 percent of the costs, leaving schools to shoulder the rest. Federal government funds another $1 million at HSD, but the remainder must inevitably come out of the general fund, something schools term “encroachment.” And it is intensely frustrating to both teachers and administrators because they say they are being forced to do something without being given adequate money to pay the bills.
“It is a major unfunded mandate,” said Tim Foley, superintendent of schools at the county office of education and a former special education teacher. “Schools are seeing a fraction of what the actual costs is and what was actually promised.”
At HSD, special education took about $2 million from the district’s general fund. This year special education expenses also cost about $150,000 over budget, or about a fifth of the district’s $860,000 deficit.
But Hollister is hardly alone. In the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District, which has a fifth as many students, the encroachment into the general fund runs 26 percent. There, special needs students are included in regular classrooms while severely handicapped students attend HSD.
But the money is only half the problem.
Schools have also been known to misidentify students, especially those who are learning English or come from a disadvantaged background, placing them into expensive special education programs they don’t really need, said Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) who authored the bill that recently became law.
“Studies show the proportion of minority students identified in some disability categories is dramatically greater than their share of the overall population,” he said in a written summary of the bill.
Ann Griffin, director of educational services at HSD, admits there has been problems with misclassifying students, but says the district has developed student success teams, made up of the vice principal and resource and other teachers, to try and help students succeed before placing them in special education programs. Alternatives may be as simple as seating the student in the front of the room to help him or her concentrate better or presenting class material in a new way, Griffin said. If adjustments still fail to improve academic performance, the student is then referred for testing, which determines whether they need to be included in a special education program.
However, while some teams take time to find alternatives for a struggling student, others are quicker to refer them to the program, she said.
Although disabilities may vary from mild speech impediments to mental retardation, some are correctable with added attention, while others last a lifetime.
“The more complicated the disability, the greater the impact on students’ education,” said Ann Griffin, director of educational services at Hollister School District.
Joey, Sandoval’s nine-year-old who suffers from cerebral palsy, has a one-on-one aide and, despite using a wheelchair, is in a regular classroom. Her other children, Nathan and Miguel are in special education programs at private schools in the area.
Currently all special education students must have a detailed education plan called an individual educational program (IEP). The IEP sets short- and long-term goals for the students and continuously updates their progress during the year. With an estimated 1,100 students in special education programs in San Benito County, however, schools have become overwhelmed with paperwork.
Under the rules, students will create a new IEP every three years, but parents can change the program without a formal meeting.
“Ultimately, it can mean less paper work for teachers,” said Chris Lompa, a special education program specialist at the San Benito County Office of Education.
As a result of her own experience, Sandoval has become active with a support group for parents of disabled children and is satisfied with the care they are receiving. All attend private schools, “where teachers are willing to work on whatever needs to be done. No one asks to have a special education child … to have what we have,” said Sandoval, who raised her children as a single mother with the help of her family.
“Families should consider themselves lucky to not have to deal with this for the rest of their lives.”
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected]
