The Education Wars III: Special Education Funds

Now it's special education students and funding that are getting the shaft from the federal government and school districts.

From further down in the article, which really gets to the point:

But supporters of special education say special-needs students are being shortchanged. The biggest rub: To shift the funds, schools must show they have met certain criteria, which may include graduation and drop-out rates of special-education students. To allow more districts to qualify, some states are ignoring or lowering the standards.

"This is a slap in the face," said Candace Cortiella, director of the Advocacy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit that advises students with disabilities. "This is historic funding that could have had a huge impact with [special-education] students, and states and districts have instead chosen to minimize the amount of good."

At the heart of the debate is a provision in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, a version of a statute originally enacted in 1975. The provision says that in years in which there is an increase in federal funding for special-needs students, districts already meeting certain standards can choose to reduce their local spending on special education by as much as 50% of the federal-funding increase -- and, in turn, divert the freed-up money to other uses.

In past years, increases, if any, in IDEA funding were generally small, so the provision -- intended to give districts some flexibility -- wasn't used much. But the Obama administration's economic-stimulus plan boosted IDEA funding by an unprecedented $11.3 billion over this school year and the next -- roughly equal to the total amount states received a year ago.

Vice President Biden

was in Reno yesterday stumping for Senator Harry Reid, who is up for re-election next year. Biden said the economic stimulus package was working.

GOP Infighting

It's nice to finally see cracks in the loyal opposition's armour. More concerned about their fortunes in 2010 and beyond than giving a crap about the American people, the GOP politicians are arguing over the stimulus. Idiot governors like SC's Mark Sanford are grandstanding by claiming they will not accept parts or all of the stimulus, despite the fact it was written in the legislation governors could NOT willy-nilly deny the money; the state legislatures can override any governor's opposition. The governors' "target" in their opposition is extended unemployment benefits. People have to understand these rich assholes who compromise much of the GOP are opposed to UI on principle. They think people who are laid off or fired are responsible for their own fate, and nobody should "bail them out" despite the fact it is businesses who do the layoffs. People on UI don't get it if they quit their jobs (with a few rare exceptions). No, the few GOP governors bitching about UI want the unemployed to go to states with more generous benefits so they don't have to pay out. Well, too goddamned bad.

The idiocy of these cultists knows no bounds. The unemployed do vote, you know, and not all of them are non-voters, Democrats, or even independents.

The Stimulus

Will Nevada, which is dying on the vine, benefit from the stimulus?

If California turns around, then Nevada will eventually, but I don't intend to be here when it does.

And while the stimulus takes effect, Obama is looking at ways to reduce the deficit.

This is all well and good, but he needs to realize the problems with the economy are a direct result of federal policies which heavily support a tiny economic elite to the detriment of everybody else; i.e., wealth distribution upward to the point where there is overconcentration of wealth. Since there is a finite amount of wealth, this state of affairs can't go on forever. With more people with less in the way of money, products aren't bought and products aren't made. Eventually the whole economic system collapses.

In other words, the right wing has waged a relentless class war, which I have talked about and written about for 25 or more years, and so far there has been no serious attempt to reverse it. We will be a third world country if these policies are not reversed.

Barlett and Steele, who had written for the Philadelphia Enquirer, had three books published in the 1990s which explained why the economy was going into the crapper: America: What Went Wrong, America: Who Pays the Taxes, and America: Whole Stole the Dream? The only thing the authors were wrong about was their belief Social Security should be means-tested, which is simply silly and ultimately destructive to the program by undermining the pact made between generations and by undermining public support by making SS into a "welfare" program, which it is certainly not.

Obama's Stimulus Plan

The 15,000 tax credit won't do shit for low-income homeowners, or for a lot of them anyway.

It's another handout to the well-to-do, just like COBRA "reform."

Political Dumbasses

While many Democrats have been highly critical of Nevada's Harry Reid, the junior senator from Nevada, John Ensign, should get tons and tons MORE criticism.

"No rush" for this economic stimulus just because the taxpayers are footing the bill for HIM?

The cluelessness or viciousness of the GOP has no limits.

Paul Krugman

Krugman decides to take apart some of the most ridiculous arguments opponents (read Republicans) make against Obama's proposed stimulus plan.

They keep on with this tax cut mantra when they should know better.