April 3, 2007
Two Bills of Concern to the Parents of High School Students
HARC has recently become aware of two bills in the General Assembly that should be of concern to the parents of special education students who are completing or nearly completing high school.
The first bill shortens the length of time that a special education is eligible to go to remain in school. Currently, students are able to attend school to the end of the school year in which they turn 21. The proposed bill (Raised Bill No. 7176) would require special education students to leave school on their 21st birthday no matter when it occurs. It would become effective on July 1, 2007.
This bill is alarming for two reasons. First, it flies in the face of inclusion; other students do not routinely leave school in the middle of the year. They complete the school year and hopefully participate in a graduation ceremony with all the other students. Second, this will create a transition problem for DMR, which leads to the second bill.
The second bill is the Governor’s proposed budget which is problematic for several reasons. The portion that HARC is currently concerned about is the so-called “discretionary funding” line of the DMR budget. The Governor’s budget funds only 50% of the students leaving high school or other programs in June 2007 and June 2008. If this portion of the budget is allowed to stand, then only 50% of graduating students would be funded to enter programs paid for by DMR or graduating students would receive less than a full program. Either way DMR clients are hurt. DMR is developing a plan to assign ratings to graduating students and their families to decide who gets funding. If both bills are passed, DMR would have to decide in the future who gets funding. Would it be the students who finish school first?
· Please write to your Legislators opposing Raised Bill No. 7176 and the portion of the Governor’s budget that limits funding for graduates.
· Please pass this information along to other families of high school students who are eligible for DMR.
· To read Bill 7176 go to http://www.cga.ct.gov and type in the bill number at the top of the page.