District Administration - January 2012 - (Page 35)
Special Ed
Accelerating costs are driving some districts to outsource these services.
By Ron Schachter
Seeking Savings in
A
n old saying goes, “When an irresistible force meets an immovable object, something has to give.” That adage is taking on new urgency for school districts as they grapple with the burgeoning costs of their special education programs. The immovable object is the hard and fast rules of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. IDEA, last reauthorized in 2004, requires that qualifying students receive diagnostic testing, individual education plans (IEPs), and a potentially unlimited range of school-based special education services for as long as needed—from aides in the classroom to an array of physical, occupational, and speech and language therapies. “You can’t deny a child the services,” says George Giuliani, executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET). The irresistible force takes the form of the ever-increasing numbers of special education students and the growing proportion of
district budgets devoted to providing them with services. “If we don’t figure out how to get a handle on the skyrocketing costs of special ed, the budget will cannibalize itself as we cut general education programs,” worries Brian Osborne, superintendent of the South Orange and Maplewood (N.J.) School District. In less than a decade, that district’s special ed expenses have increased from 16 percent of the annual budget to 26 percent, and Osborne fears that the numbers will continue to rise. “There’s exponential growth in the diagnosis of autism, and some of the students on the autism spectrum require a costly level of intervention that doesn’t seem to be attracting attention from
Top left: Tara Bohm, a paraprofessional at the South Orange and Maplewood (N.J.) School District, works with students in Jefferson Elementary School. The district outsourced the positions to a nonprofit collaborative. Above right: Students in a general education class at Morven Elementary School in the Anson County (N.C.) School District learn math from a general education teacher and a special education teacher, sitting in foreground.
www.DistrictAdministration.com January 2012 35
http://www.DistrictAdministration.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2012
District Administration - January 2012
Contents
Letters
News Update
Conversations
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Finding the Perfect Fit
Kansas City Plots Next Steps
Seeking Savings in Special Ed
K12 Guide to Audio/Visual Solutions
Equipping Teachers to Infuse Technology
Flipped Classrooms Gaining Ground
Buying in Bulk
Online Identity Management
Going Mobile
Student Counsel
Online Edge
New Books
New Products
Product Focus
Professional Opinion
District Administration - January 2012
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