HB 704 and Special Education

A new bill introduced in the Pennsylvania House, HB 704, seeks to change the spending formula for special education, to mirror last year's similar measure for basic education. The Reform Special Education Funding website, http://reformspecialedfunding.org/, has both the executive summary and the full report "Costing Out: the Resources Needed to Meet Pennsylvania’s Education Goals for Students with Disabilities," that points out funding needs. The site also links to newspaper articles on the bill.

There is a common assumption that kids in special education have been dumped there for poor behavior and stay in SPED forever. In fact, some kids in are in both special education and gifted education programs; others are in SPED for a few years and then go back into the mainstream classroom. There are also any number of ways that SPED kids are discriminated against on a daily basis, from simply missing out on classroom activities to more serious matters. Some kids are in special education for physical reasons, others for social / behavioral, and still others for academic reasons. It is difficult for one single teacher to meet the needs of all these categories. A smaller teacher or aide / student ratio is needed; individualized programs are best when available / possible. For many kids some intensive intervention at a young age can alleviate later problems. It's a "money now or money later" proposition. Definitely worth full funding.