http://www.cec.sped.org/cec_bn/press_021005.html President Bush's 2006 proposed budget shows a callous disregard for students with special needs, says the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). While the monies available for students with disabilities is woefully inadequate, scrapping funding for vocational and gifted education will also leave thousands of students without appropriate educational programs.
The proposed $508M increase, which does not even equal the $14.6B authorized by Congress under the new Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, shows that President Bush has no plans to fully fund special education. Lack of funds for special education results in inadequate materials for students with disabilities and a chronic shortage of special education teachers, which means children with disabilities may not receive the education they need - and deserve - to succeed in school and in life. Furthermore, by shortchanging special education, schools and districts are strained as they scramble to find funds to pay the balance of special education costs.
Other areas for which funding is far below what is needed include preschool, infants, and toddlers and research-each of which receives no additional funding or was cut for 2006.
"CEC is outraged that our nation's leaders continue to make special education funding a low priority," says CEC President Jim McCormick. "It is impossible to provide high quality educational services unless teachers and schools have the resources they need for their students. Without full funding for IDEA, we place the nation's most vulnerable children at risk."
-snip-
----------------------------
goodbye public schools, it's been good to know you
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
