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Readers debate Special Ed Programs at Ridgewood Schools :
Anonymous said…
Yes, the dollars are increasing but are the number of students increasing?
Answer that first, because if the number of students is increasing then of course the $’s are increasing. THEN determine if the increased students correspond with the increase in $’s.
If the number of students does not correspond with the $’s then you can argue more intelligently. Blanket statements about the expense of special ed will get you nowhere.
The irony here of course is that towns with good special ed towns attract families with special ed students, so the better job you do the more it is going to cost you in the long run.
Basking Ridge has a high population of special ed kids……. not because they breed kids with dev delays but because they have a great reputation and folks move there for their services.
Let’s keep in mind that these kids will cost us as taxpayers one day or another. Would you prefer society educate them to be productive citizens when they are kids or that they become burdens on society later on as adults?
5:25 PM
Anonymous said…
It is one thing to pay for education of special needs students it is quite another to pay for all the additional costs that are never ending. Due to the way the laws are written, nothing is automatically off limits. Home programs, extended year programs, evaluations costing several thousand dollars and lets not forget lawyers costs. While mainstream education has seen funding cutbacks due to the poor economy, no so special education. Parents and advocates keep asking for more and while public schools are limited to 2% increases, not so private special education schools who openly court parents of special needs students. There needs to be a balance.
6:53 PM
Anonymous said…
5:25 – I appreciate your thoughtful approach to this issue. I would like to point out that the majority of the kids receiving accomodations will not be burdens to society when they leave school. I fully expect my classified, mainstreamed child (whose only accomodation is additional time on standardized tests) to go to a college where I will pay for additional support services, if necessary. After that, I expect that he will integrate nicely into the workforce and be self-sufficient. Yes, he might need more time than others to become independent, but it will be on my time and my dime. I expect I’ll be working until I’m 70 or so but it’s what we parents do.
8:42 PM
Anonymous said…
This is a train wreck waiting to happen. While I am sympathetic to the parents of speacial needs children, the budget math will eventually break down and something will have to give. Special ed needs to be funded at the state level, not the local level. Otherwise, the 2% cap will be impossible to maintain in future years as special ed costs continue to skyrocket. The only thing that may save us is if birth rates fall and we have fewer kids in the schools at some point in the future.