Parent Lobbying Tips: Approaching Policy Makers

See Tom’s Special Education Hot Topics.

Parent Lobbying Tips: How Parents Can Make a Difference

Special Education lobbying tips for parents.
See Tom’s Special Education Hot Topics.

Bill Update-AB 2717

CLICK HERE FOR LATEST INFO

YOUR SUPPORT MADE THE DIFFERENCE!

May 29, 2008
AB 2717 Passes late in the Afternoon -

SACRAMENTO (CDCAN) – Legislation pushed by parent and family advocates of children with disabilities, AB 2717, that deals with special education due process hearings and assigning “burden of proof” on school districts in certain cases, passed the Assembly late this afternoon (May 29) by a vote of 42 to 14. The bill heads to the Senate for further action.

Budget Crisis

This Wednesday, I am flying to Sacramento to visit with Long Beach district area State Senators Alan Lowenthal, Jenny Oropeza, and Assemblymember Betty Karnette on behalf of children in special education. As a parent of a son with autism this is something I have done for the past four years. For the first time in state history, the Governor is proposing a real cut—$189 million—to federally mandated special education programs for the nearly 700,000 students with disabilities in our state. Because special education is a federally mandated program, services are still required to be provided to students with disabilities so the cost will have to be backfilled by a school agency’s general funds which are also proposed to be cut. It comes at a time when the number of children with disabilities has risen dramatically. The number of children with autism has increased 480% over the past 15 years. One in 166 children born today will have autism. The level of cuts proposed will cause tremendous pressure on school districts and could result in teacher and staff layoffs and/or hiring freezes. The Long Beach board of education recently voted to close an elementary school to save the district about $1 million. So if you have a child in school, not just special education but all children, please contact your representatives. This budget flunks the basic test of good government: It hurts our children. Our children did not create this financial crisis and they should not have to pay for it.