The Bottom-Line on Scholarships

[Guest guest]

I'm just going to cut to the chase here, because I don't think many of

us have time to analyze much less rebut all of the often totally

unrelated or inflammatory links which are somehow supposed to point

out all the potential pitfalls of an autism scholarship program in

Texas. This is almost two years later and these are the same defeatist

arguments that still bear no more relevance to me than they did the

first time they surfaced. Here is why.

In my opinion, this whole issue comes down to one thing. A fundamental

difference in mindset between: 1) People who believe drastic

change requires unconventional approaches and 2) People who agree

drastic change is needed but subscribe to a policy of working within

the constraints of a system which has proven cumbersome,

time-consuming and ineffective towards accomplishing these changes in

an effective efficient manner at best, and unsympathetic and downright

hostile to the educational needs of our children at worst.

There are those who are personally struggling finding appropriate

placements for their children in their public schools. They have tried

everything to work with their public schools and have found no viable

solutions for their child. They have played by the rules and worked

within the constraints of the system. Some have played by the rules in

the TEA game-book all the way the the second round of federal appeals,

and have still gotten nowhere. We are met with the same defeatist

attitude by our state Advocacy Agency which advises us not to fight,

to settle all claims, no matter the compromise required. Nothing will

ever change if we adopt this mindset.

So, that's really what it comes to: Play by the same rules and appeal

to the same individuals in power that are part of a much larger,

politically-based machine that results in our children's needs falling

by the wayside to powerful lobbyists, political agendas and desires

for re-election, or buck this system with innovative approaches like a

scholarship program, to buy the time to hope for a miracle shift

within our Legislature, Federal Justice System and the TEA.