Your child’s education doesn’t necessarily have to end when high school is over. Unfortunately, it isn’t so easy to find college programs that are designed to include students who have special needs. When colleges choose to cut teaching positions from the special needs program, it really hurts the students who rely on their assistance.
When budgets get tight, something has got to go. Lately, it seems that colleges that are facing budget problems are choosing to alleviate their financial distress by making cuts to the special needs programs. I’m not sure how much this improves the budget of a college, but I am certain that it causes harm to the special needs students who rely on those programs.
There are laws in place that require public schools to provide for the requirements of special needs students who are in Kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Federal funding is given to the schools specifically to be used for that purpose. Public schools who are unable to properly provide for a student’s needs are required to pay the tuition for that student at a private school that can meet those needs.
Colleges, however, are exempt from those types of laws. The laws do not protect special needs students who are over the age of eighteen, or who have finished their K-12 education. It typically is more expensive to run a special needs program, which requires additional staff, than it is to hold a college class where hundreds of students sit in an auditorium, and are taught by one teacher.
In December of 2011, the San Luis Coastal school district, which is located in San Luis Obispo, California, decided to abruptly cut their entire special needs program for adults. The students who went to that program were learning job skills, life skills, and social skills from it. Apparently, “budget pressures” were more important to the decision makers at this school district than providing an education to adults who have special needs.
Now, Cuesta College, which is also located in San Luis Obispo, California, has decided to cut two teaching positions from their special needs program. This choice was made despite a plea from the Advocates of Disabled Students Programs and Services, who pointed out that this cut would take services away from the most vulnerable students. The program helps students with disabilities and veterans, a total of around 90 students.
The two teachers who will be cut from the special needs program at Cuesta College are called “learning disability specialists”. These two teachers have seniority. This means that they will be offered full-time positions somewhere else on campus, instead of in the special needs program. The result will push out the teachers who are currently holding those jobs.
Originally, it was believed that these cuts would save Cuesta College $182,656 a year in salary and benefits. In reality, since they will need to retrain the two full time teachers they are moving out of the special needs program, the cut will only save the college $100,000 a year. Again, the reason for these cuts is due to a cut to the categorical funding that the college receives from the state specifically for the special needs program.
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