Moron Lack Of Support

I posted this on my other blog.

Again, thanks to The Gradebook, they have this post: SCHOOLS NEED SHRINKS: Students, especially those with special needs, should not have to do without psychological services as the Miami-Dade district has proposed in its budget cuts, two Nova Southeastern U. psychology profs write in an op-ed piece for the Miami Herald.

Lest we forget, public education is a business, so to speak.

To illustrate how educational decisions are based on economics, the authors of the article present these reasons:

"In addition to posing the risk of making children less safe and less likely to succeed academically, cutting significant numbers of school psychologists makes little economic sense. School psychologists generate federal funds that flow directly to the district, and they save the district a great deal of money. Since school psychologists are eligible providers under Florida's Medicaid Certified School Match Program, evaluation and treatment services they provide to Medicaid-eligible students draw down federal Medicaid funds for the district.

In addition, each child who is evaluated by a school psychologist and deemed eligible for special-education services generates additional federal and state funds for the district and the school in which that student is enrolled. School psychological evaluations demonstrably reduce disproportionality in federally mandated programs, making it less likely that the district will be vulnerable to liability in lawsuits claiming discrimination. Also, when school psychologists are members of teams that evaluate the eligibility of students for special-education services, parents are less likely to initiate expensive and time-consuming due process hearings because of dissatisfaction with the school's decisions."

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What these reporters may not know is that school districts have many advanced strategies to protect their "liability in lawsuits". Slick tricks in documentation and parsing legal interpretations go far in limiting "liability". An unsuspecting public and ignorance by design boisters this defense also.

So, maybe it is more about money than education. I wonder how many school systems have figured out how to obtain these special education "additonal federal and state funds" while at the same time minimizing how they are spent on special education.

Afterall, how does one know where the money goes?