Peter Michael Grugnale’s second-grade class at Greece’s Parkland Elementary School has only five other students, one teacher and one teaching assistant.

The 7-year-old, who is autistic and nonverbal, has his own full-time, one-on-one aide during school days. And a multitude of other specialists are involved in his education - physical, behavioral, speech and occupational therapists, counselors, social workers and aides.

On average, schools spend about three times as much per pupil educating special education students as they do educating those who don’t need special services.

Last year alone, the federal government failed to pay New York districts more than $900 million in funding for the kinds of services that help students like Peter. In Greece, that shortfall amounted to nearly $4 million; in Webster, as much as $2 million; in Brighton, $1 million; and in West Irondequoit, also $1 million.

This year, it looks as if the federal government will do the same - not pay its agreed-upon share of the bill for programs it mandates.



Special education services are a civil right, and any argument over the services is not about whether high-needs children should be educated, but rather over who should pick up the tab, says Jody Siegle, executive director of the Monroe County School Boards Association. She estimated that at least 20 percent of every school budget goes for special education services.

With school budgets and property taxes rising faster than inflation, the federal government should live up to its promise and fully fund services for special-needs children, she says.

“The original law and every reauthorization passed since has provided that the government would pay 40 percent of the costs for special education, but they’ve never even come close to doing that,” Siegle says. “The most they ever did was 18 percent a couple of years ago, and it’s been going down since.”

Meanwhile, the demand for special education is on the rise, given medical advances that have led to longer lives for high-needs students, better and earlier diagnoses of disabilities and changes in teaching methods and theory that tailor instruction to each child’s needs.

“The expenses associated with special education go far beyond the teacher,” says William Domm, assistant superintendent for business and personnel in the West Irondequoit Central School District. “There’s a whole assortment of ancillary services: one-to-one aides, occupational and physical therapy, art therapy, music therapy . . . Some students need a nurse. Some are unable to ride the bus with general education students, and we provide special buses and aides on those buses.”

Special education in the 13,500-student Greece district came under heightened scrutiny in 2005, when parents filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the district didn’t do enough for special education students.

Staff changes made this year as part of a settlement in that case reflect the high cost of special education.

The district added 38.8 special education and speech teaching positions at roughly $61,000 each, 6.4 social worker and psychologist positions at about $49,000 each, 7.8 occupational and physical therapy positions at $55,000 each, and 17.8 teaching assistant positions at about $14,400 each.

The total additional cost: $3,344,206, not including benefits, says Lou Alaimo, Greece’s school business administrator.

According to the National Education Association (NEA), the federal government shorted states more than $13 billion in special education funding last year.

President Bush’s 2008 budget proposal called for a reduction in special education funding of about $300 million, while Congress’ proposal called for an increase of about $1.3 billion. President Bush vetoed the education appropriations bill last month.

Since 1975, when Congress passed the law - now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - that requires public schools to properly educate children with disabilities, states and local governments have picked up the tab for more than $380 billion in public education that the federal government should have paid for.

According to the NEA, federal funding would have to increase by 130 percent to reach the level called for in the IDEA.

 In Greece, full IDEA funding could free up as much as $4 million from the tax levy for other programs or reduce local taxes. In West Irondequoit, full funding could mean as much as $1 million more for the district each year.

“I would love it if people would just understand this issue and stand up and start screaming at Washington for putting this financial burden on school districts and not living up to the obligation to pay for it,” Siegle says.

(Home page image: Lisa Whitman teaches math to 10-year-old Lashunda Barley at Buckman Heights elementary school in Greece. The children are part of an eight-student special ed class that has both a teacher and a teaching assistant. Photo credit: Jen Rynda, staff photographer)

Source: Meaghan M. McDermott/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle