Palin's promise to give private school vouchers to children that have autism, down syndrome, mental retardation, emotional disturbances, blindness, deafness, traumatic brain injury an other special needs is a fake promise because most private schools do not admit children with these special needs.
Palin's promise to give private school vouchers to children that have autism, down syndrome, mental retardation, emotional disturbances, blindness, deafness, traumatic brain injury an other special needs is a fake promise because most private schools do not admit children with these special needs.
If you don't believe me, call your local catholic, Christian or other affiliated or unaffiliated religious school to see if they will accept your autistic, mentally retarded, brain injured, blind, deaf or emotionally disturbed child. My guess is that they will say they won't accept your child, even though you can pay full tuition or have a state voucher.
Catholic, Christian and other religious affiliated schools make up about 82% of all private schools, according to the National Center on Education Statistics. With few exceptions, they do not accept kids with these special needs. Most of the nonsectarian private schools (18% of all private schools) also do not accept kids with these special needs.
I am a parent that sent both of my children to Chicago Catholic schools. As soon as a kid got an Individual Education Plan ("IEP"), that kid was transferred to a special education program in the public school system. This wasn't done because the parent could not afford tuition, but because the school did not have a place for the child. Even if the state gave the parent a voucher, the school would still not keep the child. And these were only children with learning disabilities ("LD") or with emotional disturbances ("ED"). An autistic or mentally retarded child would not even be let in the door.
Are there a handful of specialty schools for autistic and mentally retarded children in each state. Sure. They also can run $30,000 per year or so. Sometimes, school districts have to send their kids to these schools, because their school district cannot give the child a Free and Appropriate Education ("FAPE").
If vouchers were given out to special needs kids, it would just dilute the money for the core public special education schools.
So what do we do? First, Congress can fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") to the tune of about $15 billion a year (45 days cost of Iraq) to strengthen special education (something McCain voted against). Second, states and counties that have a need for improved special education for autistic and mentally retarded children can form public/private partnerships to build new schools specially for this population. The Easter Seals just built the New Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research in Chicago.
How did Easter Seals do it:
-Speaker of the House Michael Madigan secured a $4 million state grant to initiate construction.
-Governor Rod Blagojevich secured $1 million through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
-The City of Chicago through Mayor Richard M. Daley donated land in the Illinois Medical District valued at $3.5 million.
-CVS/pharmacy donated $500,000.
-Dominick’s made a commitment of $400,000 to name the Vocational Training and Work Center.
-The Chicago White Sox pledged $1,000,000.
It is called teamwork, something McCain/Palin know little about.
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