RE: Attracting Special Ed teachers

Catherine and Bob - As a parent of a child in special ed., I know how hard these teachers work. Underfunding results in bigger and bigger class sizes. 15 is just too big for special ed. I'm not an expert, but my understanding of funding is that the state currently does not distribute the federal money it receives for special ed to districts, so school districts get almost zero federal dollars. The state under-funds special education at the school district level between 25% and 40% (our school district is near 40% under-funded). The twenty five to forty percent that the state doesn't fund comes from the general education fund which is money that could be used for any purpose including class size reduction, literacy, salary, buildings, etc. I'd like to see the state commit to distributing full federal funding and that the Master Plan will incorporate the needs of special ed students. Unless special ed children receive a quality education that prepares them for employment, we, the taxpayers, will be paying for them later on in incarceration, welfare, and other adult support service costs later on.