Are these idiot politicians out of their fucking minds? Do they even UNDERSTAND just how expensive it is to educate these kids? Do they understand students with severe autism can become violent and create a huge disturbance in the classroom and need special programs and classrooms? Do they understand education AT ALL? Do they understand you have to have trained staff to handle toileting and tube feeding issues?
Most school districts in Oregon are small; they aren't like the big districts in Nevada, for example, which can supply the services through their school districts. Most of these districts in Oregon are municipal, as in almost everywhere else in the country, and it is just impractical to gut ESDs.
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Of course this is all about cutting budgets and saving money; to hell with what is best for the students.
And these idiots quoted in the article about drastically changing the law are confusing the fact a STEPS classroom in Medford was not included in the new high school building with the idea of having a STEPS program by the ESD at all.
From the professionals:
Sandra Crews, special education director at the Southern Oregon Education Service District said the bills could reduce choices for special education students and their families.
"They might not have self-contained classrooms at all for students such as autism,"
Crews said. "It would be really hard for districts to set something up that would be age- and disability-appropriate.
"The fear I have is it will be more costly, and school districts won't be able to provide the services," she said.
And students with disabilities have the right to a free, APPROPRIATE education. That doesn't mean dumping the kids in underprepared school districts and classrooms. ESDs are WAY more efficient than school districts providing the very expensive services themselves.
Our politicians have no fucking clue what they are talking about or are doing. It's cut, cut, cut, and to hell with the consequences.
1 comment:
First, I mostly agree. However there is one fact I must dispute.
Nevada school districts are based on counties, so we only have a handful of them. This means we don't have the kind of funding inequality issues that Texas has, or small towns that just can't afford schools anymore. But we only really has one *big* school district. That would be the perpetually cash-strapped 5th largest school district in the nation, Clark County School District. While we have great specialty programs and as many as 5 foreign languages offered in our high schools, the fact remains that they can't even afford to have a full complement of textbooks for all students.
And yes, the Republican Governor is trying to cut CCSD to the bone too.
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