State May Ease Up on Special Education Rules (NY)
November 15, 2010
State education officials are poised to trimmandated services for thousands of special education students – including someprovisions on the books more than 20 years – in an effort to provide financialrelief for schools.
The state’s Board of Regents is scheduled to vote this week on politicallysensitive changes in special education rules that would allow schools on LongIsland and elsewhere to raise some class sizes and reduce speech therapy forstudents with disabilities, including autism.
Special education accounts for about a third of total school costs,including more than $3 billion on the Island alone.
Supporters of the changes say school districts could continue providing allexisting services if they wished, and that students with disabilities stillwill be guaranteed "appropriate" education under federal law.Nevertheless, Regents supporting revisions have found themselves bombarded inrecent weeks by e-mail from parents, speech therapists and other opponents whosay changes would slow students’ progress.
"I don’t have a problem with making it more flexible, as long as theparents and the district agree they ought to have that flexibility," saidRoger Tilles of Great Neck, who is the Island’s representative on the Regentsboard and is the parent of a teenager with a disability.
Tilles referred to federal requirements giving parents a strong voice inspecial education services for their children.
The proposals are scheduled for votes by a Regents commit tee Monday, and bythe full board Tuesday. Tilles predicted passage.
Rule changes, debated the past two years, would:
Drop a required minimum of two 30-minute speech therapy sessions each weekfor students needing this, while maintaining their general right to therapy.
Drop a required minimum of 30 to 60 minutes’ daily language training forstudents with autism, whilemaintaining their right to such help.
Allow schools to increase the number of special education studentstemporarily assigned to "inclusionary" classes from 12 to 14 withstate permission. Such classes typically are assigned two teachers, along withequal numbers of students with and without disabilities.
Revisions are supported by Albany-based groups representing most schoolboards and superintendents on the Island and statewide.
However, many parent advocates of students with disabilities view thechanges as a retreat from the state’s traditionally generous support.
Robert Krakow, the co-founder of the Manhattan-based Elizabeth Birt Centerfor Autism Law and Advocacy,which provides legal support for children with disabilities, said, "We allunderstand that we’re in difficult financial times, but cost savings shouldn’tbe placed on the backs of the most vulnerable students who need the mostfocused interventions."