Doing Away with High School Exit Exams

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South Carolina Rep. Phil Owens says a story he heard from one of his constituents convinced him it was time to do away with the state’s requirement that students pass an exit exam to earn their high school diploma. The man had three sons, all close in age and approaching graduation from high school. One of the [...]

DSM-5 Revisions on some IDEA Disability Categories

Despite DSM-5 revisions, IDEA still defines disability categories under special ed law.

by Christina Samuels – The long-awaited fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM-5, was released last weekend by the American Psychiatric Association with several revisions that affect conditions such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that are common in school contexts. The manual was last published [...]

The Cost of Mandated IEPs

Districts in Minnesota are no exception to drawing from general funds to pay for special ed services.

The number of students who have special needs in Minnesota is growing and the funding system to educate them needs to be repaired. Each student with special needs has an individual education plan (IEP) that by law must be funded. All children, including those with special needs, have an equal right to an education as [...]

Outsourcing Special Ed Angers Parents

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by Chris Harris – A change in how the school district manages and administers its home programs for special needs students — a cost-cutting measure — has several parents in the village outraged. Emotion was on display during an informational meeting Thursday night at the Education Center on Cottage Place, where parents chided the school [...]

Special Ed Costs Increase, even when Student Population Decreases

Some Pennsylvania districts have had lower student enrollment, but the special ed expenditures rose anyway.

by Gil Smart – Inside the “sensory room” at Pequea Elementary School, all is calm — by design. Here, students with autism or similar disorders can escape the classroom cacophony. Kids can crawl through gauzy colored tubes, relax in a rope swing, dig in a sand pit or squeeze through a “steamroller,” a device designed [...]

Is Cost Driving State Decisions on Special Ed Services?

Pennsylvania will consider a three-tier system where the state would be able to pay more for those students who require more services.

by John Finnerty – The state hands out special education dollars under a flawed formula that gives schools the same amount of money, regardless of how many students need services or how intense and costly those services are, lawmakers said. It is a problem that has shortchanged school districts year after year, with some districts [...]

Is DC Really Misidentifying Special Education Students?

D.C. schools have a goal of cutting the number of special education students claiming overidentification.

by Rachel Baye – DC Public Schools officials are trying to cut down on the number of students being diagnosed with disabilities and enrolled in special education programs. The effort is part of the school system and the city’s goal of reducing the number of public school students attending “nonpublic schools,” relatively pricey private schools [...]

Budget Interferes with Meeting Special Ed Student Needs

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by Dani Carlson – The number of children getting special education services is going down in almost every West Michigan school district, despite the fact that the number of autism diagnoses is climbing. The allegation is that districts are cutting special education services to save money. So Target 8 crunched numbers obtained from the state, [...]

The Challenge of Budgeting for Special Education

Ongoing changes in student needs for services, staffing and equipment make planning special ed costs challenging.

by Jacqueline Weaver – Special education is often the second largest line item in school budgets and the one for which it is the toughest to plan. Families relocate. A new student is diagnosed with special needs. A longtime student is suddenly experiencing difficulty in school. In cases where a child needs a residential placement [...]

Illinois Parents Livid Over Special Education Changes

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by Emily McFarlan Miller – When Mary Jo Shepherd of Schaumburg first read about the Illinois State Board of Education’s proposals to end class size restrictions for both special education classrooms and general education classrooms that serve students with disabilities, she wondered which of her five children they would affect. Would it affect her daughter [...]

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