As the number of students with disabilities in Pennsylvania increases, a new report argues that the share of public funding for education has declined. Education advocates say state lawmakers can use this year’s budget surplus to support students.
In 2008, Pennsylvania contributed nearly one-third of the total cost of special education, but in 2020 that amount has dropped to 22%.
And all the while, costs have been rising for every school district, according to Sharon Ward – senior policy adviser at the Education Law Center, who published The report.
She said this hurts students in the poorest districts the most and can cause them to miss out on services such as individualized education programs.
“What we hear from parents is that there are delays in the development of IEPs,” Ward said. “If you can reach children in the early years and help them meet many of their learning needs, that means they will have a more successful student career.”
An estimated 308,000 students received special education services in the 2019-20 school year, up 14% from the 2008-09 school year.
The report adds that a lack of adequate funding for special education prevents students from accessing individualized support, assistive technologies and other interventions.
The report also includes policy recommendations for state lawmakers and education officials, such as adding $200 million to special education funding for the 2022-23 school year.
Ward added that they would like to see the state close the charter school loophole, where districts must provide charter schools with a set amount of funding per student, regardless of disability.
“We would like charter schools to be held to the same cost-based system as district schools,” Ward said. “Frankly, school districts send money to charter schools to serve students with disabilities and they don’t, they use those dollars for other purposes.”
The Education Law Center, Public Interest Law Center and O’Melveny Law Firm were in the courtroom recently to present their case than how schools are funded in the state violates the education clause and equal protection provisions of the state constitution.
He is awaiting a decision from a Commonwealth Court judge.
Disclosure: Education Law Center contributes to our fund for reports on budget policy and priorities, children’s issues, education, human rights/racial justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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Students’ mental health has been put to the test, from the pandemic to the tragic shooting at a school in Texas last week. Counselors can be a lifeline for children going through stressful times.
Rebecca Pierce, a counselor at Klamath Union High School, said children were struggling before the pandemic, but COVID-19 has added a new level of anxiety, including for those who may not have struggled before. Pierce said one of the important approaches counselors take is to understand that “the student is not the problem – the problem is the problem.”
“You can help reduce students’ anxiety when you allow them to tell their stories,” she said, “when you allow them – honestly and appropriately – to tell their stories and explore some of the those scary things.”
Following the Texas shooting, Pierce said it was also difficult for councilors to deal with the tragedy. She also noted that there is a lack of counselors working at the elementary school level.
Roberto Aguilar, a counselor at Milwaukie High School, said the focus in high school is on the future and what life has in store for students upon graduation. However, he said he believes people should reconsider their expectations for the future and focus on more immediate issues.
“One of my big concerns,” he said, “is that we have to start living today and realize that today, the present, is really the priority and the gift on which we must focus.”
The The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for 250 students. To achieve that goal, Aguilar said, Oregon would need to hire more than 740 counselors. Pierce agreed that the role of the advisor is often overlooked.
“There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding about what school counselors can do and also why districts, especially I think in our rural areas, would want to spend that money hiring more school counselors,” she said. “So there really is a lot more education needed.”
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“Sen. Toomey, save our children.” That was the message from a group of teachers, students, parents and community leaders outside the Pittsburgh office of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., on Tuesday.
In the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, massacre last week – the 27th school shooting so far this year – the American Federation of Teachers is demanding action on gun safety as part of a new campaign.
Arthur Steinberg, President of AFT Pennsylvaniaargued that gun violence is a public health crisis that is largely ignored by lawmakers.
“What I mostly see,” he said, “is resistance from the far right to embrace anything that will help keep people safe and prevent our children from being slaughtered when ‘they go to school”.
Toomey backed the failed background check legislation in 2013 and recently indicated he would still support the measure. Opponents of gun restrictions have cited the violation of Second Amendment freedoms, and some Republicans are instead pushing for improved school safety and mental health services.
At Tuesday’s vigil, David Hogg, a student survivor of the 2018 Parkland shootings who founded March for our livescalled on people on both sides of the aisle to work together to prevent firearms from falling into the hands of the wrongdoers.
“The Parkland shooter was not a criminal mastermind; the Buffalo shooter was not a criminal mastermind; the Texas shooter was not a criminal mastermind,” he said. “They were barely adults – they were 18 and 19, who waited until they were old enough to legally buy an AR-15 and did it.”
AFT is urging federal lawmakers to pass basic reforms that include expanded background checks, red flag laws and safe storage provisions. Steinberg argued that these are not “fringe” ideas.
“Eighty-eight percent of respondents in the United States support requiring background checks for gun purchases; 57% support banning assault rifles,” he said. he declares. “Most of the country agrees on these common-sense solutions to this scourge.”
Disclosure: The American Federation of Teachers contributes to our fund for reports on education, health issues, living wages/working families, social justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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More than 600,000 Missourians have post-secondary experience but haven’t earned a college degree or credential. Some colleges and universities in Missouri want to change that, thanks to an initiative called Maturity degrees.
The University of Central Missouri is one of the participating schools. Brenda Fuhr, the university’s academic advisor and senior coordinator for student transition and engagement, said she is working to identify students who have quit, to see what their options are. They may need to complete a few course requirements, or they may already qualify for what is called a General Studies degree. She said financial concerns are also a factor.
“Students who leave without a degree and who are in debt – it’s a heavy burden for them as they try to enter the job market,” she said.
A report by the Institute for Higher Education Policywhich runs the national Degrees When Due program, said about a third of “near graduates” miss courses specific to their major, more than a quarter miss general education courses and nearly 15% miss a requirement. in mathematics.
Laurel Hogue, vice provost for online engagement and university learning, noted that UCM identified about 450 students over a five-year period who had left university in good academic condition – meaning they had a grade point average over 2.0 and under 90 credit hours. Hogue said a common reason for leaving was the need for more flexibility, such as a hybrid or online option for classes, while others cited cost.
“We had identified 120 of them who had actually left college with financial debt,” she said, “meaning they couldn’t enroll in the next semester because they had to money from the previous semester they were enrolled in”.
She added that the average debt for these students was only $1,800. According to the report, 10% of people with a university degree but no degree have already obtained a degree, but it has not been awarded – often due to financial blockages or incomplete documents. Black, Brown and Indigenous students were more likely to fall into that 10% than their white peers.
Support for this report was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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