THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509160277
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: SPECIAL EDUCATION
The challenge
TODAY: Battling the school budgets to meet the needs of our children.
MONDAY: Many special ed classrooms have a disproportionate number of
black kids.
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 408 lines
Two decades after Congress opened the doors of public schools to children with disabilities, special education is on the firing line.
Parents and advocacy groups are demanding that laws be enforced to ensure full educational opportunities to disabled children and that hard-won gains not be eroded.
Educators are insisting there is a limit to what school districts can be expected to provide and pay for.
And everyone feels shackled by red tape.
Yet, for all the heartaches and problems, most parents and educators agree that the system can work to the benefit of disabled children.
Those and other issues will be on the table this year when Congress takes up reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the primary federal law governing special education.
But at the heart of the debate beats one central concern: money.
In Hampton Roads school districts, special ed is the single most expensive educational program, running 10 percent to 15 percent of operating budgets - which is typical statewide.
William C. Bosher Jr., Virginia's superintendent of public instruction, said the unchecked growth of special education has created ``blue sky financial expectations'' - meaning there are no limits.
``I can't think of a single student I wouldn't want to offer services to, but in a purely physical sense, with the limited financial resources we have, it's an unbridled requirement,'' Bosher said. ``If I polled superintendents across the state, one of their top concerns would be how do they continue to fund special education without any reasonable limits or bounds.''
The laws' admirable goals are difficult to meet
Children with special needs once were the neglected, denied access to public schools or shunted into separate buildings or classes. Out of sight, out of mind.
Now, they have become the protected. And the law that started it all is back in Congress' lap.
From the critics' viewpoint, special education is a classic example of a well-intentioned government program that has been spun into a vast bureaucratic web.
The disabilities act - now called IDEA in shorthand - was intended to guarantee disabled children the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers for a free and appropriate public education in the ``least restrictive environment.''
Since it was passed in 1975, parents and school districts have been busy deciphering the law's requirements, and states and localities have added their own tiers of red tape.
Courts have been called upon to settle disputes between parents and schools over what is meant by an ``appropriate education.'' Administrators acknowledge that decisions sometimes are driven by concern to avoid legal challenges from unhappy parents.
``I know I could bankrupt this school system if we haven't done what we're supposed to do,'' Brenda E. Spain, special education coordinator of Suffolk schools, said.
Debate continues over how far schools must go to provide the ``least restrictive environment,'' a question that raises the sensitive issue of including disabled kids in classes with ``regular'' kids.
School officials nationwide are calling for more flexibility on how they spend special ed money, less burdensome paperwork requirements and a better balance between the needs of disabled and non-disabled students.
Karen Thomas, special education coordinator at Windsor Oaks Elementary School in Virginia Beach and the mother of a special ed child, recognizes the complexities.
``You want these children to succeed and reach their potential just like the average and above-average kids,'' Thomas said.
But getting there can be difficult. ``All the stringent guidelines - you can never get ahead of them. Just as you think you know some, you get a whole bunch more.''
Learning disabilities fuel growth in demand
Special ed enrollment in Virginia has grown steadily over the past decade, even in some local school districts where overall student enrollment has declined.
In Portsmouth, the number of special ed kids has increased 2.5 times since 1980, from about 1,000 to 2,500, while the city's overall student population has dropped by about 3,000 students.
Statewide, 130,565 children were enrolled in special ed programs in 1993-94, about 13 percent of the state's slightly more than 1 million students.
That percentage has remained fairly constant since 1983-84. But remarkable increases have occurred in one special ed category - learning disabled.
So dramatic has been the rise that ``LD'' kids now comprise about half of special ed students.
From 1984 to 1994, the number of LD kids in Virginia rose from 43,298 to 60,981, a 40 percent increase. That contrasts with an increase of 8 percent during the same period in total enrollment.
The LD category encompasses kids who have a breakdown in basic mental processes needed to understand or use language. For instance, a child with dyslexia, a reading disorder, is considered learning disabled.
Special ed experts agree, however, that identifying a learning disabled child can be ``nebulous.'' Some LD children, for instance, have average or above average intelligence, but may have difficulty learning to read or write.
``There's no magic test for kids with learning disabilities,'' said Stephanie Lee, a Northern Virginia resident who has a child with Down syndrome. Lee is president of PRAISE - a special education advocacy group - and serves on Gov. George F. Allen's Commission on Champion Schools.
Some critics worry that LD classes have become a dumping ground for problem students, particularly minority children.
Officials suspect a link between LD children and the increase in poverty, broken families and drug-abusing parents.
Parents also may be more aware of special ed services and are demanding them.
``Some parents push for it because they find it's the only way to get their kids the extra help they need,'' Lee said.
And some poor parents seek to have a child placed in special ed for the ``crazy money,'' a monthly payment of up to $468 in Supplemental Security Income for needy disabled children. But a special ed label does not guarantee the cash - there has to be a medical finding of a physical or mental disability, Social Security Administration officials said.
While attempts to abuse the system are uncommon, officials say, there are parents who make no secret that they're after the money.
``We're seeing referrals from parents who are blatant and say, `We want the crazy money,' '' Spain of Suffolk said. ``Kids come to testing and say their mom told them not to answer the questions correctly.''
Feds promise 40 percent but pay just 9 percent
When Congress passed the IDEA, legislators promised that the federal government would finance 40 percent of the costs.
Congress has never lived up to that pledge.
``The federal government has created these mandates but hasn't funded them,'' said Carroll R. Bailey Jr., Portsmouth's former director of special education. ``We get less than $400 for each kid, and some individual kids cost anywhere from $17,000 to $150,000 a year.''
In the 1993-94 school year, the latest for which figures were available, 123 of Virginia's 133 school districts reported spending more than $608 million federal, state and local dollars on special education.
Local districts picked up nearly 70 percent of the tab - more than $415 million. The federal government chipped in 9 percent, or $54 million. The state paid for the rest.
It costs twice as much to teach special ed kids
In the same year, the Virginia Department of Education sent $1.89 billion in state dollars to local schools. Aside from basic school aid, from which all children benefit, special ed consumed the most dollars for any single program - $139 million.
Special ed kids cost
twice as much to teach
As a rule, a school system spends about twice as much to educate a special ed child as a non-disabled child. Smaller class sizes and higher staffing levels required by state law are largely responsible for driving up the costs.
Norfolk in 1993-94 spent about $25 million on approximately 4,300 special ed kids, with most of the money going to salaries and benefits for teachers, aides, administrators and clerical staff.
The city's average expense of educating an elementary child in special ed was $8,914, compared with $4,430 for a regular pupil; for secondary students, $8,933 versus $5,928.
But for students who require more specialized help, the expense can be astronomical.
In the 1993-94 year, the Norfolk district spent nearly $119,000 on one student who required hospital-based services for severe emotional problems arising from a brain injury.
Last year, Norfolk ran up bills of $740,752 for 25 children at two private residential treatment centers in Hampton Roads; two of those students who received year-round treatment cost about $100,000 each.
The system spent an additional $1.1 million for outside services to ``re-educate'' 127 seriously emotionally disturbed children.
Of the $2 million spent on such professional services in 1994-95, the state paid the bulk of the bill - $1.45 million. The city paid for the rest.
Portsmouth recently approved a contract with two private companies to meet the needs of special ed children requiring physical and occupational therapy. Officials said annual costs could run as much as a half-million dollars.
Suffolk spends on average $7,700 a month on 68 students with therapy needs; Virginia Beach, the second largest district in the state, pays a private contractor about $50,000 a month.
Special ed: A drain on resources or a scapegoat?
Reliance on private providers arises in part because of a statewide shortage of therapists, further driving up costs. Portsmouth's Bailey estimated the city could save at least $150,000 annually if the therapists were on staff.
As costs have escalated, much of the debate has focused on whether special ed is siphoning money from programs for the majority of students - the average, non-disabled kids.
``If you ask, `Would you buy more computers, add to supplies and equipment, upgrade library materials if you didn't have to buy this?' - the answer is yes,'' Bailey said. ``You'd have to be crazy to think it's not having an effect on the overall education program.''
Worried about rising costs, Norfolk school officials this year pared its special ed budget - saving $185,000 - by cutting 15 teacher aide jobs that went beyond staffing levels required by Virginia law.
``I think the most frightening thing was that our special education budget was growing faster than our general fund budget,'' Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. said. ``We shouldn't treat regular ed kids to one level of service and then special ed kids to a completely different level.''
For less than $185,000, for example, the district this year was able to hire two resource teachers to beef up the middle school gifted program ($75,000); expand a teacher-training center ($25,000); begin an ``algebra readiness'' program for fourth- and fifth-graders ($6,370); launch a Saturday detention program in five high schools ($21,665); and provide teacher training for an International Baccalaureate program at one high school ($50,000).
At the far end of the academic scale, another disparity often is noted: Programs for gifted students get only a fraction of the dollars set aside for disabled students, which many parents and educators say shortchanges gifted students.
Those are familiar and troubling comparisons for parents and advocates of special ed kids.
``They spend money on conferences, car allowances for superintendents and teacher lounges and make children with disabilities the scapegoat for their budget problems,'' said Richard DiPeppe, director of community services at the Endependence Center in Virginia Beach.
``Moral and economic'' common sense
In the long run, advocates say, it's cheaper for society to pay special ed costs up front.
``It makes long-term sense from a moral and economic standpoint to give these children an education so they can get a tax-paying job and become independent and sufficient when they graduate,'' said Lee of Northern Virginia.
``It may not seem like much, spending all this money on someone who might end up working at a fast-food place or bagging groceries, but for a parent, that's wonderful.''
Maureen Hollowell, education coordinator for the Endependence Center and the mother of a special ed child and four non-disabled kids, said, ``Who cares if the feds give us a penny? Does that mean there is no local responsibility to educate these children? Are they saying that unless you give us 12 percent or 40 percent that we don't value these kids and won't educate them? I don't get that.
``It's very important we don't mix up the rights and opportunity with the dollars and the responsibility.''
Disabled kids in most cases are just getting the basics, advocates say.
``If people think these children are getting a Rolls Royce education, there's some misinformation floating around,'' Lee said. ``There are a lot of unmet needs in special education.''
Even so, state schools chief Bosher said special ed kids have access to many services that aren't available to general students.
Federal laws, for instance, require public schools to educate disabled kids ages 3 to 21. Virginia went one step better and lowered the age to 2.
While more school districts are offering preschool programs to non-disabled kids, most of those kids do not have access to a free public education until they are 5 and eligible for kindergarten.
In a June 27 letter to a U.S. House education subcommittee, Bosher requested that states be allowed to spend special ed funds on the youngest kids ``at risk'' of academic failure because of social or economic factors.
Many of those same at-risk kids are the ones who get placed in special ed classes. With early intervention, Bosher said, schools might be able to keep them in regular classes.
No matter how unruly kids get, the state must pay
Nowhere is the equality question more clearly defined in Virginia than in the debate over disciplining unruly disabled students.
At issue is a federal rule requiring school districts to make alternative arrangements to educate disabled kids who have been suspended or expelled from school. The rub for Virginia officials is that the state must continue to pay for the child, even if the disruptive behavior is unrelated to the disability.
That's unfair, school officials argue, because non-disabled kids aren't guaranteed the same. Virginia is embroiled in a lawsuit with the U.S. government over the issue and could lose $52 million in special ed funds if it fails to conform.
Last year, Virginia officials estimated that local districts faced costs of $1.35 million to accommodate up to 153 special ed students who were expelled or suspended for reasons unrelated to their disability.
Bosher is lobbying Congress to abolish the requirement.
``Such a policy creates a `protected class' of disabled students in a manner not intended by the IDEA nor consistent with sound educational practice,'' Bosher wrote in the June letter to Congress. ``Most importantly, this policy runs counter to the very principles that support inclusion of disabled students into the regular educational environment.''
Not everyone agrees with Bosher's assessment. Congressman Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, D-Va., has blasted Virginia's Allen administration for threatening the loss of special ed funds over a relatively small amount of money.
Scott, who serves on a House education committee that will reshape the IDEA legislation, argues that school districts should continue paying to educate expelled and suspended disabled kids.
Scott's staff pointed to research showing that 74 percent of seriously emotionally disturbed students - one category of special ed - who drop out of school are arrested within five years.
``The public interest is not served by a policy which will cost more in the long run that it would to provide the services in the first place,'' Scott said in a statement. ``It does not make good policy or economic sense.''
In Virginia, 3,359 special ed kids 15 to 19 years old graduated with a diploma or certificate in 1994. But the down side is that more than half as many in the same age group - 1,720 - dropped out, according to information from the U.S. Department of Education.
Legal rights of parents can make schools wary
Federal law gives parents legal clout in demanding special ed services, but it can come with a price - the antagonism of school officials.
Sandra Reen, director of the Department for Rights of Virginians with Disabilities, advises parents: ``Know your rights, tell them what you want and don't back off until you get what you want. The bureaucracy is so oriented to paper and process and red tape that it often forgets it's there to serve the people.''
While the majority of kids get a standard menu of services, special ed kids get individual treatment. Under the law, each child has an ``Individualized Education Program,'' or IEP, a plan prepared by special ed administrators, school officials and the parents. The IEP spells out the child's educational goals, classroom placement and services to be provided.
Parents can sue school officials if they believe the IEP's goals are not being met. They also can go to court to force a school to provide more services.
``I'm not saying parents always have to fight the system, but most of the time we have to go to the table with our gloves on,'' said Beverly Mayfield, a case worker for Family Services of Tidewater in Suffolk and Franklin.
And school officials feel they must always be on guard.
``It's making sure we're crossing the T's and dotting the I's and doing what we can to ensure we don't have to see an attorney,'' Portsmouth's Bailey said. ``There needs to be a happy medium somewhere.''
Unhappy parents can seek relief through ``due process,'' which involves pleading their case before an administrative hearing officer.
Or, if they think the school district has violated a state or federal regulation, they can file a complaint with the state Department of Education.
Statewide in 1993-94, parents filed 93 requests for due process hearings. Of the cases heard, only one decision supported the parents, while 13 favored the school district involved.
Locally in 1993-94, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach each had three due process hearings, according to state records. In 1992-93, Norfolk and Suffolk each had one, while Portsmouth had two cases.
In 1993-94, Virginia parents filed 89 complaints, most of them over IEP issues. Out of 49 cases, school districts were found to be in violation of state or federal rules in 22.
Many parents, however, are reluctant to stir up the waters.
Special ed advocates say there are many more problems than formal complaints reflect.
``If we wanted to, we could take every penny and resource of this organization and spend it in court with school systems over compliance with federal laws on educating children with disabilities,'' special ed advocate DiPeppe said. ``There are that many violations - it's constant.''
``Not enough trees in Canada for the paperwork''
In a report issued last November, a committee on Gov. Allen's Champion Schools Commission identified five areas in which ``an excessive number of mandates'' have added administrative time and costs and become ``extremely burdensome.''
Special ed was No. 1 on the list.
Paperwork is oppressive, administrators say. Every year, school districts ship off hundreds of pages of documents to state and federal officials to show they are abiding by the rules.
But the exercise largely is pointless, educators say, because it has nothing do with what actually happens in special ed classrooms.
Reams of paper also go into the production of the required IEP, which must be updated at least once a year.
Most administrators acknowledge the benefits of IEPs but argue for more flexibility and streamlining.
``There's not enough trees in Canada for the paperwork involved,'' said Bailey, the former Portsmouth former director of special ed. ``I have seen IEP's that are as much as 60 pages long, and there's nothing there that's going to guarantee a quality education.''
In the 1979-80 school year, when Portsmouth had about 1,000 special ed kids, a study showed that teachers spent approximately 10,000 hours a year on IEPs - about 10 hours for each child.
``It was unreal,'' Bailey said.
But paperwork is not the only burden. Another concern is strict state mandates for special ed class sizes. The number of students in one category - the severely and profoundly handicapped - cannot exceed six per teacher or eight with a teacher and a teacher's aide. Many other classes cannot exceed eight per teacher.
The rules, officials said, have increased staffing costs dramatically and created space problems in schools built with classrooms designed for 25 students.
Parents of special ed kids said smaller class sizes are key to their children's success in school.
Karen Martin, whose Down syndrome son graduated from Granby High in Norfolk this year, said she ``probably would have come unglued'' if her son's classes had been larger. He was ``mainstreamed'' in a regular health class with more than 20 students and ``he was lost. He's not going to learn in a large setting.''
Helping the children is the common cause
That special ed has become such a battleground is distressing to many educators and parents.
``I hate the fact that education has taken an `us against them' mentality in regular education and special eduation,'' said Carroll Butler, special education teacher at Newtown Road Elementary School in Virginia Beach. ``We've somehow lost the message of what education is and have drawn a battle line between two very similar programs. . . . The real battle is getting kids the educational services they need.''
There is a reason for all the rules, paperwork and costs, says George McKay, a special ed administrator in Virginia Beach.
``It's special education,'' McKay said. ``If it wasn't special, it would be like everything else.'' MEMO: Staff writer Aleta Payne contributed to this report ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
STEVE EARLEY/Staff
Bryon waits while adults chart his special education program for
this year at Deep Creek Middle School in Chesapeake. From left,
counselor Billie Adams, speech therapist Terry Murray, his mother,
Regina Robertson, and teacher Patricia Coker-Bell, review his
individualized Education Plan, required by law to ensure that each
special ed student receives the proper attention. Bryon's Story on
A12
Graphic
graphics by VIRGINIAN-PILOT STAFF
SPECIAL EDUCATION: THE NUMBERS
SOURCE: Virginian-Pilot analysis of data from the state Education
Department's 1994-95 Child Count survey
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB