ONE MORE UN-PUBLICIZED REASON WE NEED THE OVERRIDE. Please dont go nuts over this topic. It will inspire a lot of emotion and passion and that is not our purpose. We are asking Voters to realize one of the unspoken issues of our schools. From within SUSD Admin we got this post today: I have worked with and participated in the administration of SUSD for a long time. Ive been around as SUSD evolved in to what is called the Platinum Standard of Special Education and then subsequently fell back. Its common knowledge within the Admin but not spoken about publicly for a lot of reasons that are pretty easy to understand as you read this. Special Ed kids come with extra funding. SUSD gets more revenue per Spec Ed student just as does every other school in the State. On its face, the extra funding originally looked enticing. As a revenue building project, SUSD decided to attract more Spec Ed kids. In the late 90s and especially in 2001-03, SUSD developed what is truly the best Spec Ed program in the State in my opinion. We wanted to add Spec Ed kids and revenue. Boy did we succeed. Those great and then quite innovative programs attracted so many students and parents. People moved to the District to take advantage of our programs. They also open-enrolled from out of district. SUSDs revenue grew but we grossly underestimated the cost of the program we undertook. Loyd Eskildson speaks of watching 4 employees work with four or five students. That seems wasteful to him and frankly it is a huge drain on resources. But that is what is required to remain compliant with the massive regulatory structure that governs our activities. Every time an IEP is written, we are mandated to observe that IEP. Each IEP becomes a new Purchase Order that must be fulfilled. We rapidly learned that all the extra money was not nearly enough to cover the costs. That didnt even contemplate the bus budget. If you read our transportation budget youll see the huge percentage of bus costs for Spec Ed kids including the assistants who are needed to help them on the bus. Do not ever complain about our Spec Ed buses, Edmond. Those drivers and those aides have to do what they do and they are challenged by some kids who have enormous physical disabilities. Our yellow big buses might be a waste. But our Spec Ed buses are critical. The successes of our Spec Ed programs are heartwarming beyond any belief. When our Spec Ed kids succeed at any level its a tribute to the enormous commitment of our community and schools that we all made. But the reality of Spec Ed is that it is a huge money losing proposition to SUSD that greatly and negatively impacts our performance in other aresa of education. Spec Ed consumes a huge block of our overall budget. For that reason, SUSD started to pull back quietly and without fanfare from its extensive Spec Ed commitment. Rather than dominate Spec Ed, we chose to participate and do it well but not seek that market. I am not saying that your children were mistreated in an effort to run Spec Ed kids off. That is not the case. But its a slippery slope with lots of obstacles. When you try to reverse course to stop encouraging huge Spec Ed enrollment without violating the rights and expectations of Spec Ed parents and students, lots can and does go wrong in a 3,000 employee School District. We now call Spec Ed one of our Unfunded Mandates. As we realized the enormous cost per student we realized we had to slow down. And Spec Ed programs are in fact just that. Some dimwitted Legislators demand that our schools perform miracles without funding. Those same dimwitted legislators dont contemplate the negative impact that complying with their mandates has on General Education, on Gifted Programs, on A/P and I/B programs or art or music or p.e. Am I saying that this whole financial problem should be blamed on the Legislature? No I am not. There is also a lot of waste at SUSD that is apparent to all of us. But I am saying that Spec Ed financial costs are not nearly funded by our current state programs. This is one of the quietly discussed and sometimes unspoken reasons we must pass the Override. It would be morally repugnant to withdraw support for our Spec Ed kids. It is equally repugnant to discount the future education of our General Ed kids because we are underfunded in Spec Ed. Please pass the Override. And please elect a new Board so we spend the funds more wisely and start top restore sanity to our Schools.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:14:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015