Rep. Scharnhorst discusses Bryce's Law

Missouri Education: In need of reform

The need for autism education reform in Missouri (Part 2)

The need for autism education reform in Missouri

Bombardiers or Babies?

Hope the title was catchy enough! When I think of Bombardiers I think of black and white war stills, and, of course, Yossarian in Catch-22.

Our diligent Senators are “working pretty much around the clock,” to create a package to bring the Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace to Kansas City. With a hurting economy, no one can deny the value of an economic tax credit to create jobs and bring new industry to Missouri. But the entire situation strikes me as odd. They are working around the clock to make Kansas City look sexier than Bombardier’s first choice—a city outside of Montreal—possibly to meet a deal-breaking deadline. While we’ve been told that this tax credit will create lots of secure jobs, there are some small voices cautioning that it may cost the state more than it benefits. Senators have pushed the bill through quickly and left little time for scrutiny.

This push has left Missouri’s scholarship tax credit in its wake, and that has made me wonder about the priorities of our Senators. Tax credit to tax credit, economic development and education are both important—vital—to Missouri. We’re offering more choice for a sector of our economy that is struggling, so I’m wondering what is different about offering more choice for a sector of our education where some children and families are struggling. Why aren’t Senators working around the clock to open up education opportunities for special needs children? Why isn’t there a bipartisan rallying cry for an education tax credit like there is for the Bombardier facility?

Personally, I’d like to make sure the next generation has the chance to develop their skills and work at one of these 2100 new jobs that will be created.

Do what makes sense for students with Autism

This article had some compelling thoughts about Autism and the need for additional choices in education.

According to a study from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that the rate of autism is much higher than even the frighteningly buoyant numbers we’ve seen in recent years. In fact, as many as 1/500 children have some variation of Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD.

It’s unclear if this is indicative of a real increase, or just an increase in accuracy of diagnosis and awareness of autism, but one thing is certain: educating children with autism is expensive, between 2 to three times the national average per pupil. It’s no wonder then, that many public schools are not equipped to educate children with autism.

Expecting every public school to accommodate the increasing number (real or diagnosed) of children with autism is not fair to teachers, parents and most importantly the students who deserve an appropriate education. It’s not fair to the communities supporting public education to expect them to recreate the vast range of services that are already available to special needs students.

House Bill 1886 offers an equitable and intelligent solution for these problems. Private donations would create a scholarship fund to help special needs students get an education that will prepare them to be active in society and even get back into mainstream public education. A tax credit stimulates the funds available, and makes it available where it can benefit students the most.

Special Needs Legislation in Missouri is the Right Choice

Missouri’s children deserve the best, children everywhere deserve the best. Unfortunately, not every child has the opportunity for the best available education. Children with special needs face even more problems when it comes to educational services. Yes, there are special needs public schools, but they cannot educate every child in the best way possible. Some children may need something different. Unfortunately for them, their parents may not be able to afford moving to another district to find this or transferring their child into a private school.

There is hope for this situation, if the Missouri Legislature will do the right thing and pass the special needs tax credit scholarship program. This program would give thousands of special needs students around Missouri the chance to get the educational services they need.

The Heartland Institute discusses the legislation:

Under Senate Bill 993, financial contributions made to organizations that provide private scholarships to students with defined physical or mental impairments would reduce an individuals state tax liability by 80 percent on contributions up to $1 million.

To be eligible under the proposal, scholarship organizations would have to demonstrate financial accountability and guarantee students can carry the scholarship between different programs. Qualifying schools would have to meet basic safety and health standards, could not discriminate on the basis of race or religion, and would have to provide regular reports to parents on student progress.

I hope this passes! It would truly give the parents and the special needs children a chance at greatness. Every child has potential and it is up to us to open the window for that potential to blossom. Please, if you are reading this, give these children a chance and support this legislation. Contact your Representatives and voice your support.

Jefferson County draws the line

The Jefferson County Suburban Journal has a story about school and neighborhood pride and isolationism in Jefferson R-7. A few quotes from the story offer a look at why it’s important to keep opening up communication and options for all students.

“R-7 officials said their only concern was the well-being of the students of the R-7 district, but refusing to consider the potential benefits of even discussing a combined district seems like leaving out the opportunity to find something that might be in the best interest of district students. Part of the reason for the rejection is history. The people of ‘Hornetland’ snubbed the Blue Jay faithful in the past, so the latest turn is payback. However, two wrongs never make something right, they perpetuate more wrongs. Are we really that parochial that we can't find common ground between Crystal Heights and Selma Village?

“Area residents do not have to look far to see undersized districts struggling to provide the total experience for their students. Many of these high schools were created on population projections and growth that is yet to arrive. The fortunes of the housing market are frighteningly evident these days.”

It’s an interesting conundrum I hadn’t considered. I’ve known that in poor areas, good education in the district is hard to get at the public schools, but when even up-and coming neighborhoods are feeling the way that public education can not always accurately reflect the needs of the students they serve. Even more problematic is the idea that keeping the status quo and comfortable parameters is more important than making a smart change that could help students get a better education.

A parent's responsibility to educate; Missouri's responsibility to make it possible

Helping Children is a Parent’s Responsibility was the title of an insensitive, ill-conceived letter in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today. The author says,

“At a recent Senate hearing on a bill that would provide tax credits for people who contribute to scholarships for special needs children to attend private school, one parent said it wasn't fair that the family had to make adjustments to educate a special needs child. ‘We shouldn't have to move and rearrange our lives to get what's best for our kids.’

Parents do that all the time. Surely, parents take into consideration the quality of a school district before they move into a neighborhood. Would parents have the same complaint if their child had a physical illness and needed special treatment?

As parents, we often are called on to make sacrifices for our children. The means are available. Getting children the help they need is a parental responsibility, not an entitlement.”

Aside from the pure disappointment that someone who purports to understand the needs of autistic children could so callously dismiss the lengths that parents go to educate a special needs child, I was struck by the pithy and non sequiter arguments the author gave.

I am sure that parents do take into account a school district before buying a home—but how can they take into account the endless possibilities of special needs their child could be born with? Many parents simply do not have the means to live in the best school district, as illustrated by the fact that there are tens of thousands of children enrolled in the failing St. Louis Public schools—surely that is a known fact.

What’s more, the means are not available. Parents have told legislators about multiple moves to find the right school district that could help their child, or of second mortgages, cashed out college funds and 401Ks all to pay for a private school that could help their child learn. That’s to say nothing of parents who have more than one child, or children with different disabilities, careers passed up to move or care for a child, the effect moving can have on some special needs children, and the sheer costs of testing and therapies. What else would the author have them sacrifice? When parents have exercised all of their options and still cannot get an appropriate education for their special needs child, there exists an obligation to give them another choice.

There is a plethora of tax credits in Missouri that assist families with housing, daycare, college tuition—this is one way the state can respond when a need exists that many families cannot meet. It is abhorrent to say that families who are seeking a good education for their children are doing so out of a sense of entitlement. They have advocated for the scholarship tax credit precisely because it is their responsibility to help their child succeed. That deserves respect and support, not scorn.

Finally, if it is a parents' responsibility to educate their child, then parents should be given a choice.

Sen. McKenna: supporter of education

Senator Ryan McKenna, of Jefferson County, is an obvious supporter of many good causes. He encouraged schools in his district to participate in The Power of 11 Cents program, raising money for a relief fund to help deserving veterans. He was appointed to, and will be serving on, the Mississippi River Parkway Commission, which coordinates both improvements on and preservation of the Mississippi, a valuable part of his region and our state.

Senator McKenna has also been a strong supporter of educational improvement in the state, as evidenced by his cosponsoring SB 443, which forgives loans to graduates who teach in suffering and unaccredited schools throughout our state.

Given Ryan McKenna’s virtuous leadership in the senate, it is both surprising and disappointing to hear he is not in favor of SB 993, a bill that creates scholarships for children with special needs. Often these children are forgotten in their schools, don’t receive appropriate services, and their parents, already struggling with the challenges that come with raising a child that has autism, Asperger’s, or some other special need, often don’t have the money to take care of their child’s education. Though some of these children do very well in public schools, there are often those that do not.

Opponents to this bill have somehow convinced honest senators like McKenna that this bill takes money from the schools. What the bill, in fact, does is set up a scholarship fund to which people may donate money to. Under the auspices of the philanthropic donations of these citizens and administration of the funds by the state, children with special needs and their families are given a lifeline. Money is donated, and given. No money is taken from the tax base. Tax credits are given to people who give, just as they are given to those that give to other nonprofit funds. The bill is a winner all the way.

Some are also intent on saying the bill paves the way for school choice, letting kids attend private schools. This is just another tactic to derail discussion about the bills actual language, to divert media attention. And even if it were the case, Senator McKenna should have no problem with that, given he was given a good education at Saint Pius X, a private school. But then again, it does not matter, because that is not what this bill is about.

Hopefully Senator McKenna will be able see through the opponents’ murky misrepresentation of this bill and gain focus on its reality: a good cause for kids.

Rep. Schlottach, trusted with parents' rights

I read on Rep. Luke Scavuzzo’s website this quote:

“Trust is not a prize politicians get for winning. It must be earned every day by hard work. I hope I have earned your trust by representing our community with the highest standards, ensuring that our needs and values are heard in Jefferson City. I respect all members of my community and believe they should all be valued equally. I have and will continue to serve my community with the convictions of honesty and integrity.

There is still a lot of work to do. We need to increase economic development and job growth by attracting quality jobs that provide good wages, quality health care and employment security to all Missourians. We need to improve our education system from pre-kindergarten to college.”

General sentiments like that, while encouraging, don’t really tell us much. What matters is what happens that support those statements, and it really is hard to tell. Ideologically, many legislators believe they’ve been elected to offer their best judgment on an issue that many voters may not be well-informed on. Others think that their position requires them to root out the leaning of their constituents and try to replicate that sway in the legislature. Probably most are trying to strike a balance.

HB 1886, in my opinion, is one of the issues in which a parent’s view is most important. This legislation will give parents with special needs a choice about what school works best for their child, and what will best help them reach their educational goals. A tax credit scholarship program will give donated funds to special needs students to go to a private school if their parents determine that the current public school isn’t meeting their needs.

Talking to parents is the best way to learn about what struggles they are facing, why they need this choice, and the benefits they’ll be able to get for their children. Parents with special needs children are the experts on the subject, and they are asking for this opportunity for their kids. I hope Rep. Scavuzzo has a chance to ask the experts about how HB 1886 will help their children, and the difference it will make.

Charles Schlottach has been vocal and supportive of giving parents more options when it comes to their children’s education. He’s one of the stalwarts in the House who recognizes that the education we have available today isn’t enough for some, and that instead of implementing long-range plans and putting more money into a system that isn’t working for every student as it’s supposed to, we need to give Missouri parents the ability to vote with their feet and find the best education available for their child, whether it’s from a public school or not.

There’s a big difference between supporting the public schools and supporting public school children—it’s the same as the difference between supporting the diary industry and supporting dairy farmers: they go hand in hand, but if the price of milk is such that farmer’s can’t afford it for their families, what good have we done?

In education it’s the same. We need a public education system. We need to fund it, reform it, staff it, promote it—but if, after we’ve done all those things children still aren’t learning, we can’t just throw up our hands and say well, we tried! Work with what you’ve got! We need to have options for parents who have done all they could working with their public school and still need something else for their child, and we can’t limit it to those families who have the money to afford the cost of private education for special needs students.

I hope to see Charles Schlottach voting again in favor of parents’ rights, and the right that children have to an appropriate education, as he has in the past.

Possibilities

Paul LeVota is a Representative for Lee’s Summit and a Democrat who leans across the aisle to get things done.

As a member of the Budget committee, Paul is battling for a budget that is reasonable, responsible, increases funding for schools and protects the truly vulnerable of the state of Missouri.

I’s hoping for his support for special needs scholarship tax credit legislation, HB 1886, if caring for the truly vulnerable of Missouri is something he’s passionate about.

Over 12,000 students with IEPs live in Jackson County. I imagine that many are well served and are able to improve within the public school setting, but we desperately need an option in Missouri that takes the burden of those families whose children are not improving with the help that’s available. Rep. LeVota should come out in favor of this measure and speak up for those students, and stop viewing public education as the perfect and only solution.

$300,000 in the bank?

Margaret Donnelly has spoken briefly about her bid for Attorney General of Missouri, but I have a few nagging concerns. Donnelly has come out swinging (if indirectly) at the special needs legislation proposed in both the house and the senate. HB 1886 would create a tuition tax credit scholarship for special needs students in Missouri, and would allow them to transfer to another public or private school where they could get an education that better fits their extenuating circumstances. If we can take Donnelly at her word, she’ll continue her hard-headed fight against anything that might threaten the imperviousness of the public schools. She’ll continue to do what she’s always done and turn a blind eye to the fact that Missouri’s schools cannot possibly meet the needs of every developmentally disabled or Autistic child.

Rep. Donnelly puts her campaign finance pool at a perky $300,000. Let’s contrast that to the costs facing parents and guardians of autistic children for just a second.

The Harvard School of Public Health puts the total lifetime cost of caring for an individual with autism around $3.2 million. That’s just one person! Caring for all citizens with autism is a $35 billion-a-year tab, and research is sorely underfunded compared to other high-cost diseases and disorders. Autism is growing in prevalence at an alarming rate, and we are not doing enough as a country and as a state to respond to this problem. While Margaret Donnelly is concerned about protecting the public schools, she leaves children with autism vulnerable. The estimated rate of growth of autism diagnoses is between 10% and 17%, and no matter how much money we are able to designate to public schools and their special needs programs, public education will never be able to handle that increase in students.

Looking the other way while parents take on the financial burden of a special needs child isn’t a great way to become know as “the people’s attorney.”