Re: Special-education stimulus funds diverted

[Guest guest]

I found a link on whitehouse.gov when the recovery act was first signed that

broke down how much went to each county and the total amount given to IDEA.

When the furloughs started in GA, myself and 10 other special needs parents sent

a letter to the school superintendent letting him know that we would watching

the funding issues. In our county, they continue to hire Special Needs staff and

admin in spite of the furloughs and have changed programs so that when the money

is gone, they can keep most of the new staff/admin. Even though funding for IDEA

almost tripled last year it is still in no way balanced with funding for other

groups under Education.

There are states actually trying to write laws to get that money for somehing

else, so please arm yourself with information if you think the money is being

redirected and contact your state reps, Senators, news affiliates, etc.

S.

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 18, 2010, at 1:04 PM, Mr Wonderful <rick_tallman1@...> wrote:

You can be certain that this also happened in all 50 states, not just two

counties in NJ.

And yet, when a parent goes to an IEP meeting to request special services, they

will be told that the school district doesn't have any money for that.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201003160410/NEWS/3130301

Special-education stimulus funds diverted to other costs in Monmouth and Ocean

counties

By SHANNON MULLEN • STAFF WRITER • March 16, 2010

Kim Vaccaro of Brick wasn't aware that last year's federal stimulus package

included a $2.4 million grant to help her district enhance its special education

program.

So it was news to her that Brick spent just half of the money on new initiatives

for special education kids. The rest went to pay the health benefits of some 250

special education teachers and staff.

" That's pretty outrageous, " said Vaccaro, 45, who is president of the Brick

Township Special Education Parent Teacher Association.

" That is totally unfair to our kids, " said Vaccaro, whose 12-year-old son

has autism. " Once again, they get shortchanged. "

An Asbury Park Press investigation found that school districts in Monmouth and

Ocean counties used the special aid to pay legal bills, expand non-special

education programs and pay benefits for non-special education teachers.

What Brick and other districts did is perfectly legal, however. In fact, about

40 percent of the New Jersey school districts that received $360 million worth

of special education grants from the stimulus spent as much as half of their

windfall on general school purposes, compared to 44 percent nationwide, a survey

by the U.S. General Accounting Office found.

The redirection of funds was possible thanks to a previously little-used

provision in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal

statute that guarantees children with disabilities the right to a " free and

appropriate " education.

The law allows districts to use up to half of any annual increase in such

federal aid to replace local tax dollars earmarked for special education,

freeing up those funds for other uses.

Few districts have exercised this option in the past because the increases are

usually paltry, but last year was a different story.

The historic $787 billion economic stimulus included an extra $11.3 billion in

federal aid for special education, more than twice what districts normally would

receive. The aid was in the form of IDEA Part B grants. The stimulus also

included an additional $400 million in Part B preschool grants.

Districts were quick to take advantage of the wiggle room in the law to steer

funds to other things besides special education. Examples:

The Freehold Regional High School District used $300,000 in redirected funds

from its $2.4 million grant for employee health benefits. The district

redirected another $200,000 to pay legal fees.

Middletown used $1.3 million from its $2.7 million grant to expand the

kindergartens in each of its 12 elementary schools to full-day programs.

Long Branch tapped $669,000 from its $1.3 million grant to lease new space for

its alternate education program for at-risk students and hire a full-time child

psychiatrist who can prescribe medication to students, if necessary. The

redirected funds are subsidizing a portion of the psychiatrist's $123,000 annual

salary.

" There is a one-shot opportunity to take this money and help with general

education costs, " said E. Genovese III, the school business administrator

in Long Branch. " This is an allowable use of the funds. "

Yet some districts were not too eager to tell the public what was being done

with the federal money.

In their initial accounting to the Asbury Park Press, school officials in Brick

and Freehold Regional didn't volunteer the fact that they redirected funds to

offset health benefit costs, or in Freehold Regional's case, legal expenses, as

well. The Press later used the grant applications that the districts filed with

the New Jersey Department of Education to uncover the omission.

Brick Schools Superintendent Walter Hrycenko said the district wasn't hiding

anything and he stood by the decision to use the grant to help pay for the

health benefits of special education staff. He called the $1.2 million used for

that purpose " a drop in the bucket " compared to the $22 million total cost of

employee benefits.

" This is helping us do other things, that's all, " he said.

Brick did budget $1.2 million from its grant to upgrade its data-tracking

system, purchase equipment and supplies and fund several new staff positions in

the special education program, including a jobs coach, a transition instructor

and two administrators.

Hrycenko said the district was wary of initiating more new programs and services

than it could sustain after the stimulus aid ran out, a particular concern now

in light of deep cuts in state education aid.

Besides, he added, " We think we're doing good program (in special education),

the way it is. "

While redirecting grant money is legal, the practice has disappointed some

parents and advocates for children with disabilities. They think it wastes a

golden opportunity to substantially improve the quality and capacity of special

education programs, which serve six million children nationwide, including

230,000 in New Jersey.

" I think what Congress intended was for districts to spend the money as start-up

funds for new programs, " said Considine, coordinator of the New Jersey

Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform. " That's what advocates had hoped

districts would do with the money. "

To be sure, much of the extra aid is being used that way. Districts have hired

additional special education teachers and aides, purchased new computers and

various assistive devices for special education students, and bolstered teacher

training.

But the widespread use of the redirection of funds option is limiting the

grants' impact, advocates say.

" This provision was meant to provide districts with some fiscal relief when

Congress increased IDEA federal appropriations in a gradual and steady process

over many years, " argued Candace Cortiella, director of The Advocacy Institute,

a nonprofit disability rights organization based in Washington, D.C. " It was

never intended for a situation that was caused by the stimulus. "

Not every district took advantage of the provision. Neptune and , for

example, didn't redirect any of their grant money.

" We didn't do that, " said Labbe, 's special education director.

" The focus was on improving our instruction so we could transition more of our

special ed students toward less-restrictive (inclusive) settings, and on

providing interventions for our general ed students to reduce the possibility of

them becoming special ed students. "

Labbe said the district expects to save " millions of dollars " over the long term

by using its grant to augment teacher training in autism education, ramp up

alternative reading instruction and create two new staff positions. The new

staffers will focus on easing children with disabilities into regular classrooms

and bringing more special educations students who are in private schools back

into the district.

Parents of children with disabilities aren't of one mind when it comes to the

redirection of special education aid.

Cartier, co-chairperson of Middletown's special education parents

advisory group, called VOICES, initially was upset about her district's plans to

redirect half its grant to a full-day kindergarten program.

After doing more research, though, she had a change of heart. Specifically, she

learned that the state had approved the redirection, and that the district

planned to provide the kindergarten classes with additional aides to accommodate

children with disabilities.

" It's for inclusion, " reasoned Cartier, 47, whose 11-year-old daughter has

Down syndrome. " I don't have a problem with it now, but it took me a long time

to figure out that I didn't have a problem with it. "

Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.

Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you.

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Ben lin