Agenda - 06-30-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Mary Kessler and I am the Chairperson of the Exceptional Children's Advisory Council for the Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools. On behalf of the 1,575 exceptional children in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools, I urge you to fund all of the proposed 1992 -93 school budget. I speak for those children with special, differing learning abilities, that is, children who have mental or physical disabilities, behavior and emotional handicaps, learning disabilities, or are academically gifted. Right now, I am very worried about their future. You see, the key to their future is an appropriate education - -but how can they get it when we have more and more students in our schools, but not enough money to keep up with the growth ?? Yes, there is a lot of growth in our community. You see it in how our community is changing. But it really hit me in the face just a few weeks ago when I learned my son's Life Skills Class at Estes Hills Elementary School will move to Glenwood Elementary School next fall. For you see, Estes Hills is running out of room. Just 10 days after school opened last fall, there were 538 students, 68 over projection in a school with a capacity for 522 students. And there's growth in the number of exceptional children we serve. In just 3 years we have grown by almost 500 students, an increase of 45 %. Still some people wonder why we keep asking you for "so much money ". I'll tell you why. These children have a right to a free appropriate education, as the law says. We have to serve more and more identified children. That's why there are 7 positions for exceptional children in the expansion budget. We're just trying not to lose any more ground in our services!!. The state is no help to us. As I explained in the letter I wrote you, the state puts a cap on the number of exceptional children it will fund, based on a percentage of the total district student population. We are way over that cap, to the point this year alone 191 children were served but unfunded. Had there been no caps, we would have had $171,432 more dollars for our children. To make matters worse, the state keeps giving less per pupil. This year alone, a decrease in the per pupil funding meant a loss of $50,633. Add the figures together, and you almost get the amount requested in the expansion budget for exceptional children programs. Add it up over a four year period and it comes to a loss of a half million dollars. What are we supposed to do ?? So, what will happen without the expansion funds? Very simply put, what we have now is going to have to be