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Finance : Divisive rate changes credited with rescuing disabilities program from debt
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Posted by Sylvia on Wednesday, March 03, 2004 (22:25:40)
Sun-Sentinel 02/03/2004
By Jason Garcia
TALLAHASSEE · Florida's top social services official told legislators on Monday that rate changes have put the state's Developmental Disabilities Program within its budget for the first time in years.
"We have the potential of running this program in the black for the first time in a long time," said Department of Children & Families Secretary Jerry Regier.
But firms that supply speech therapy, residences and other services to patients with disorders that range from mental retardation to autism say the higher rates DCF began charging last year are forcing them out of business.
The debate about how much providers should earn for the care they give is part of a larger struggle over how to help Florida's growing disabled population.
DCF's $1.1 billion-a-year disability program serves about 32,000 disabled patients. But nearly 14,000 more are waiting for help.
To save money, DCF standardized payments to providers last year and cut overall payments by $48 million. That sparked heavy protest and a lawsuit from providers and group-home owners.
On Monday, Regier told an auditing committee of state senators and representatives that the savings DCF earned in adjusting rates has the disability program on pace to finish with almost $13 million left over.
Had DCF not adjusted rates, he said, the agency would be facing a deficit of between $20 million and $40 million and would need the Legislature to bail it out.
Regier said the level of service to patients has not been much changed. Ten providers have quit the program, he said, but their combined 52 patients have been placed in other programs.
But John Hall, the executive director of the Association for Retarded Citizens, a statewide group of providers, said the hikes have prompted program cuts, overcrowded facilities and deficits for providers. If the rate hikes aren't rescinded, Hall said, more than 10 homes are sure to close.
"I'm afraid to tell you, that number is going to be much bigger," said Hall, whose organization is involved in the lawsuit over rates against DCF.
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Finance : Schools blame government for their money woes
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Posted by Sylvia on Tuesday, March 02, 2004 (23:03:40)
The Advocate 01/03/2004
By Chad Klimack and Carey Checca
Private businesses often complain about the high cost of new government regulations on their bottom line.
Schools are no different.
Local educators blame the hidden costs of unfunded state and federal mandates as a key force in expense growth and forcing Ohio districts to constantly seek more money from voters.
With two districts -- Southwest Licking and Licking Heights -- appearing on the ballot Tuesday, educators say taxpayers don't hear enough about the costs involved with the No Child Left Behind Act, special education or proficiency tests.
Special needs expensive
Licking Heights Treasurer Sheryl Hatfield estimated her district spent $1 million to teach special education students last year, while it received only a little more than $199,000 in return.
"They're not reimbursing us for the cost of special education," Hatfield said.
Testing potential special education students requires districts to hire people who can identify and work with children with disabilities. Some students need their own full-time aides.
Southwest Licking has 28 teachers who work with its special education students, and the district also contracts with occupational and physical therapists.
The state does provide some money for special education, depending on the severity of a student's disability. In addition to its regular per-pupil funds, Southwest Licking receives $69 for a student needing speech therapy and $11,193 for a student who is deaf and blind, said Charla MacKenzie, who is in charge of Southwest Licking's special education program.
Unfortunately, MacKenzie said the state's funding does not cover the expenses. A case in point would be a deaf and blind student. Such a student likely would need a personal attendant throughout the day.
"That would wipe out the $11,000 right there," MacKenzie said.
Newark City Schools spent $4 million during the 2002-2003 school year on students with disabilities, as well as those who are gifted.
A majority of the budget went toward the district's 50 intervention specialists for children in preschool through high school and one Braille teacher for the district. For gifted students, the district had one program coordinator and about four teachers.
Although Congress is talking about fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Act, that would only cover about 40 percent of the cost to educate a child with a handicap, Newark Superintendent Keith Richards said.
Right now, Congress only has funded one-third of the act, Richards said.
"While we totally support those children being in our schools, the dollars to meet their unique demands are not there," Richards said.
Monica Perry, director of special education for the Licking County Educational Service Center, said "Special education tends to get bashed whenever there are financial struggles. They're legally required -- federally and from the state -- to offer the services, but it's not 100-percent funded."
A higher percentage of students are receiving special education than before, Perry said.
Some of the increase is due to better and earlier identification of problems, she said. Also, local data shows one child out of every 250 births has some degree of autism. No one knows the reason for the increase in autistic children, she said.
"As medical technology increases, children who are medically fragile, they wouldn't have survived. And now they are," Perry said.
Very often, premature babies grow up to have developmental delays or other problems associated with an early birth, she said.
The incidence of serious mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other mood disorders is increasing at an alarming rate, Perry said.
If that increase were not enough, districts must pay for the special education of students who do not live in the district.
The state requires Newark to pay other districts in Ohio for special education services when Newark students are placed in foster care elsewhere. This cost for the last several years has fluctuated annually from a low of $100,000 up to $182,000, Newark Treasurer Brian Wilson said.
New mandates
Many schools are cringing in fear of the No Child Left Behind Act, which Donna Boylan of The Buckeye Association of School Administrators said could cost Ohio schools approximately $1.4 billion to implement in the coming years.
Newark Superintendent Keith Richards called the act "the greatest unfunded mandate that has been put upon public education."
Dana Herreman, Newark's curriculum director, is most concerned about the act's requirement for adequate yearly progress, which is based on proficiency test scores, as well as a district's graduation and attendance rates.
If a district fails to make progress, expensive repercussions come in, such as individual tutoring and decreasing class sizes, she said. "The cost of not making Adequate Yearly Progress or doing what you have to do to make Adequate Yearly Progress, that's where the real costs come in," Herreman said.
For example, districts are forced to hire teachers and provide extra programs if they want to improve their test scores and not suffer a black eye in terms of public relations, Yocum said.
"That's an extra cost for any school," he said. "In order to meet the proficiency mandates, you must provide intervention (or tutoring)."
Southwest Licking budgeted $33,000 in teacher aides to help with intervention this year, Treasurer Richard Jones said. Without the tests, the district likely would not have had to spend the money, Jones said.
To improve its proficiency test scores, Licking Heights hired more teachers, bought more textbooks and sent its current teachers to professional development in recent years. Licking Heights Superintendent Janice Streit said it would be impossible to affix a cost to the items.
"We have to be constantly updating our materials and things to be providing the kids what they will be tested on," Streit said.
Community schools
Other decisions at the state level have stripped hundreds of thousands of dollars from schools. Community schools, in particular, are siphoning money from districts.
When a student from Licking Heights goes to a community school, for example, the district loses the student's state funding. Licking Heights expects to lose $173,439 in this year alone.
Likewise, Jones said Southwest Licking lost more than $100,000 last year when former students migrated to community schools.
Unlike Licking Heights, Southwest Licking and Newark formed their own online community schools so they can get some of that money back. Southwest Licking currently has close to 25 students in its online school, and Newark's Digital Academy has about 70 students enrolled.
Newark City Schools' cyber school is considered a separate entity from the district. Last year, tuition payments for students living within the district and attending cyber schools cost the district about $220,000, Wilson said. This year, the cost jumped to nearly $847,000. Of that, about $556,000 is tuition for the Newark Digital Academy.
Newark also must pay for educational services for students who legally reside in the district and are incarcerated with the Department of Youth Services -- about $60,000 for this fiscal year for students in jail, Wilson said.
School officials do not bemoan some of the programs, such as special education, because they contend they are needed. However, they wish they could get more money from the state and federal government to fund them.
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Finance : Parents gather at State Capitol to protest autism-treatment cuts
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Posted by Sylvia on Monday, March 01, 2004 (22:29:52)
Green Bay Press Gazette 27/02/2004
By John Dipko
MADISON — Scores of parents whose children have autism gathered at the State Capitol Thursday to send state officials a message about their loved ones’ care: Treat now or else pay later.
The Families for Effective Autism Treatment rally was designed to raise awareness that intensive in-home treatment isn’t nearly what it was since the state implemented changes as part of the 2003-’05 state budget.
Bellevue mom Candee Eckberg said the changes mean about 10 fewer hours of therapy a week and even fewer in about eight months for her son, Joshua, 4.
Eckberg said the one-on-one therapy has helped Joshua greatly over the past two years, but she fears the changes will curb his progress.
“He’s come so far, but his help will be gone,†said Eckberg, who had Joshua’s picture and placards that read “No child left behind†and “treat now or pay later.â€
Eckberg joined the dozens of Wisconsin parents wearing yellow T-shirts and toting their children or pictures of them as they gathered to hear speeches from rally organizers and autism experts.
Their voices apparently have been heard: Gov. Jim Doyle said he would convene a task force to seek solutions to the problem.
“The governor has been meeting with parents and providers, and he wants to address the issues that have been brought to his attention and work with parents and providers who’ve been active on this issue,†Doyle spokesman Dan Leistikow said. “He is in the process of forming a task force to address some of the issues they’ve raised.â€
Facing the loss of federal money as well as a $3.2 billion state deficit, Doyle last year proposed ending the $30 million-a-year program, which covered about 1,000 children a year with as much as 35 hours a week of in-home autism therapy. He reconsidered following an outcry by parents that the program helped their children.
The state restored some of the funding but had to make changes in order to cover costs.
Many parents said that not only are their children now receiving less therapy, but much of the reduced funding is tied up in administrative expenses and not being used for direct services.
Ken and Janice Becker of Bellevue said their son, Justin, 13, went from 30 to 35 hours a week of therapy to seven. He actually only receives therapy about four or five hours a week because of the administrative fees, they said.
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Finance : For Beth and her like help is `poor'
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Posted by Sylvia on Monday, February 23, 2004 (19:49:28)
Yarra Ranges Journal 24/02/2004
"APPALLING" and "pathetic" are the words Autism Victoria (AV) uses to describe the funding and support of autistic children and their families in Victoria.
AV executive director Amanda Golding has called on the State Government to provide more funding and to release a report it compiled on child autism last year.
"Funding in early intervention is very poor, it's pathetic," Ms Golding said.
"There are families who get no funded service at all. Some might get enough for one to two hours a week, which is very inadequate."
Bayswater's Irabina Centre is one of 70 general early intervention centres and the only dedicated autism early intervention centre in the state.
It works with 92 children aged 2-6 and their families for about five hours every week.
Sixty two of the places are state funded and former champion athlete Ron Clarke is funding 30 until the end of next year.
Families come from as far away as Bairnsdale.
There is a waiting list of 57.
The 5-6 weekly hours of intensive therapy and learning were invaluable to the children, Ms Golding said, but were not enough.
She said autistic children needed about 20 hours a week of intensive treatment from toddler age if they were to have the best chance of attending schools and developing social skills.
She said families who wanted therapy at home had to pay for it themselves and could pay up to $20,000-$30,000 a year for 20 hours a week.
"It's appalling that families have to self-fund," Ms Golding said.
"There are many, many families who cannot afford that so it then becomes a question of social justice."
She called for the Government to release the report it commissioned last year on services for autism sufferers aged 0-6.
Ms Golding expected the report would be released last November to coincide with the World Autism Congress 2002 in Melbourne.
"We suspect they found a significant gap between the number of children affected and services available," Ms Golding said.
The state Department of Human Services (DHS) said the Government was increasing autism service funding.
"The level of support should be based on a comprehensive assessment of the needs of the child and the family," a DHS spokeswoman said.
"The Children First policy - released last year - includes a number of funding initiatives, which reflect this Government's commitment to improved services for young children.
"In particular, an additional $6million over four years will be provided from 2003-04 for additional early childhood intervention services for autism, speech and behavioural problems at childrens' centres."
The spokeswoman said DHS was still reviewing and finalising the report and decisions about its release "will be made shortly".
"Once the draft was completed it was sent to Mental Health Services and Disability Services for consultation as there are significant implications for both programs," the spokeswoman said.
She said the report will provide estimates of autism in Victoria and make recommendations on providing an integrated service that supports families caring for a child with autism.
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Finance : Private schools getting Utah dollars
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Posted by Sylvia on Sunday, February 15, 2004 (14:38:38)
Desert News 14/02/2004
By Jennifer Toomer-Cook
Utah education officials stand firm against vouchers, or sending public tax dollars to private schools — except when they see fit.
Some Utah school districts already are giving $58,000 a year in weighted pupil unit funds to private schools to teach special education students, according to a State Office of Education analysis.
The state's two largest school districts also are spending more than $145,000 for private school services.
Granted, the dollar amount is less than the $1.2 million the "Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship" bill, which is basically a voucher for special education students, is estimated to cost the state.
But schools' actions add a twist to the bill's debate.
HB115, sponsored by Reps. Morgan Philpot, R-Sandy, and Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan, is named after a boy who attends the $21,000-a-year Carmen B. Pingree School for Children with Autism.
The bill would give parents of students with various disabilities a government voucher worth their child's weighted pupil unit (the state's basic per-student funding formula), which would vary between $3,720 and $5,400 depending on the disability's severity.
Supporters say some students with disabilities would be lost in regular public schools, and parents need this extra financial boost in order to accommodate their students' basic needs. Some parents at the Pingree school, for instance, have taken out loans and otherwise scraped and sacrificed to pay tuition.
"Public education isn't ready for some of these kids, and they're not ready for public education," Philpot said.
But school officials are steadfast against vouchers as leaking precious tax dollars that could be going to Utah public schools, which receive the least per-student funding in the country. They defend their practice of selectively flowing tax dollars to private schools.
The public-private contracts are rooted in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA promises students with disabilities a right to a "free and appropriate public education."
What's appropriate for each child is spelled out in an individualized education plan (IEP), created by a team of parents, educators and sometimes other professionals such as doctors.
But the process isn't always smooth. In FY03, the state recorded 13 formal complaints, and seven requests for due process hearings, the second step in the complaint process, State Office of Education numbers show. In a state enrolling 56,000 special education students, other complaints undoubtedly surface, but don't rise to the formal level.
Occasionally, an IEP team determines public schools can't provide an appropriate education, and districts can contract with other school districts or private schools for special help, such as speech therapy, or all-day schooling.
In the latter case, the district would have to pay for everything — full tuition, fees, books and other things required by the private school — under the federal law.
Currently, Woodland Hills school in the Salt Lake Valley receives $58,050 in public WPU funds for 27 of its 55 students with disabilities, the state analysis shows. The money comes from several contracting school districts, Wilson said.
The Pingree school and associated Valley Mental Health are contracting with Granite and Jordan school districts. The districts each have 12 preschoolers who receive help from private specialists. Granite pays $86,400 for the service; Jordan, $59,500, the districts report.
Such private-public partnerships show the bill is unnecessary, some say.
"There already is a mechanism in federal and state statute for students to receive those services," if needed, from private schools, said Donna Gleaves, executive director of the Arc of Utah.
But before HB115 came to light, not all school districts knew about that mechanism, said Cal Evans, Jordan School District's executive director of compliance and special programs. The state school board since has clarified the matter, but not before inconsistencies arose.
"Parents in some districts are supported in their desire for their student to access a private school for some special education services and some are not," Evans said.
And that's hard on parents who are certain what their child needs.
"I've been to the school district and they have some wonderful programs. But they don't have the program that will help my son," said Cheryl Smith, mother of Carson Smith, the bill's namesake. In fact, it's the public Jordan Valley School Carson attended that alerted Smith to the Pingree school's services.
"If I were to put my son into public school, it would cost (public schools) so much more than I'm asking for this WPU . . . so it seems like a win-win situation to me. I'm getting the help I need, and I'm paying the difference. Then, they can focus on the kids they do have," Smith said. "The bill . . . broadens the scope (of district contracts) and cuts out the middleman."
The State Board of Education has taken a stand against the bill, but it's also working to address parent concerns internally.
The board has asked for a rule to be drawn up that would let IEP teams give greater consideration to parental choice, but not go so far as providing a voucher.
State special education director Karl Wilson and Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Laing, however, think that would be a bad, and costly, move.
For instance, school districts send students to private schools because they cannot provide the "free and appropriate public education" required under IDEA.
Under that thinking, if a student goes by choice, and the state sends along the child's WPU, the parents may have grounds to ask the state to pay for all the child's private schooling expenses, Wilson said.
If parents choose private education without working with districts, they give up guarantees to IDEA educational rights, and state and federal funds that follow them.
Schools, however, could strike a happy medium — outside of a voucher law, Evans said.
Evans, for instance, says he is willing to work with parents who want their public funds to follow their child to a private school where specific special education services are offered.
"If a child is having difficulty in the district and (a private school) is what parents want, I'm willing to work with parents. I hate arguing with parents over those kinds of things," he said. "We would certainly enter negotiations."
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