The month of May means that the end of the school year is just around the corner. Unfortunately, most school districts are facing huge budget cuts that will have a big impact on the quality of your child’s education. Many schools have resorted to cutting teachers and staff that work with special needs students. Parents may have to fight even harder than before to make sure their child’s IEP is being followed.
You want your child to have the very best education available. It is likely that the teachers and paraeducators, (or teacher’s aides), in your child’s program also want to do everything they can to give your child an excellent education. The problem is that the people who are on school boards, or who have other positions of authority in a given school district, don’t feel the same way. To them, it is more important that the school save money, and come in under their budget, than it is to make sure that the needs of the children are being met.
Tragically, the budget cuts are now being aimed at the people who are in your child’s special education classroom. In past years, some school district officials have tried their best to avoid having to make cuts to the very program that is designed to assist the students who need the most help. This year, however, it seems that that is not the case.
District 47, in Crystal Lake, Illinois, has sent what amounts to “pink slips” to 45 part time paraprofessionals. Some of them may be called back after the new school year starts, but the district still expects that 20 of them will end up being laid off. Most of these paraprofessionals work in the special education classes.
The school board in Beaverton, Oregon, is very likely planning on cutting 33 special education positions for the 2011-2012 school year. This could total out to 21 teaching positions and 11 non-certified positions.
The remaining teachers may be facing a caseload of 50 special needs students, which they will be expected to meet the needs of without the assistance of any instructional aids, resource teachers, or records secretaries. Parents in this district came to the school board meeting to oppose these budget cuts. There is potential that some parents will end up filing lawsuits against the school next year, when their child’s educational needs are not met.
The Capital Area Intermediate Unit in Pennsylvania is planning on laying off 23 special education teachers and 30 aides at the end of June, 2011. This reduction could result in a shuffling of classrooms.
District 122 in New Lenox, Illinois, is struggling to find ways to meet the IEP requirements of special needs students next school year, when 6 special education teachers, and 6 of their aids, will be cut. This will save the district around $540,000. What will it do to the students who rely on those teachers?
Image by Arria Belli on Flickr