Medford Rep. Donato Attends Meeting for Special Ed Funding Needs

February 9, 2010

Medford — Legislators from the Greater Boston area today (Feb. 8) attended a meeting at Farr Academy, a therapeutic day school in Cambridge, to discuss the dramatic funding disparities between state approved special education schools and public schools.

The governor’s proposed state budget for next year increases funding for regular education by $178 million (5 percent), while cutting special education by $5 million (2 percent). This comes on the heels of a $90 million (40 percent) cut last year for state aid to public school districts for special education.

Reps. Jonathan Hecht, Martha “Marty” Walz, Alice Wolf and Donato attended the meeting, as well as House Speaker Robert Deleo’s legislative aide Maggie Antanasov, Rep. David Linsky’s chief of staff Meredith Ballou and Sen. Sonia Change-Diaz’s legal counsel Angela Brooks.

The meeting that was put together by the Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools (maaps). Maaps has launched an effort to try to increase funding for special education in both public and C766 private schools.

“Without a dramatic change to the proposed budget, the children of this state — who are in the most need — will get the most taken away,” said Jim Major, executive director of maaps.

Special education schools like Farr Academy, play a vital role in assisting the state with thousands of its special needs children by providing highly specialized education and treatment that the public schools are not equipped to provide.

These schools have to meet all state requirements under the Education Reform Act of 1993, and yet have received virtually no financial assistance to pay for the additional cost.

Maaps students have some of the most extensive and challenging special needs of all children in Massachusetts including: autism, blindness, deafness and mental retardation.

To call attention to the need for an increase in private special education school funding, maaps and its special education school members are holding a series of regional legislative meetings across the state. The meetings allow maaps’ staff, member schools, and parents, to meet with their state senators and representatives to discuss boosting special education funding.

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