Keep up the great work!

Schools are already cutting services and saying they do not have the money. Given that the Stimulus Funding for the Special Education Program alone is $25 million for the next school year — we cannot accept this answer

We need to be kept aware of cutbacks in services that were promised as part of a student’s IEP – Individualized Education Plan

Please feel free to contact me at 561-361-7495

Billions in stimulus dollars on the way to Florida public schools

Funds will be a huge lift for schools but no long-term panacea

Leslie Postal

Sentinel Staff Writer

7:22 PM EDT, May 11, 2009

Florida’s depleted public school budgets will get a boost from the federal government, with a two-pronged shot of stimulus money helping to avert the drastic cuts feared a few months ago.

Two local members of Congress announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Education will immediately send Florida $1.8 billion to help avert draconian cuts to school budgets. The state also is eligible for another $891 million in the fall.

The “state fiscal stabilization” money is part of the federal government’s massive economic recovery plan. Florida lawmakers banked on those funds when they devised the 2009-10 education spending plan approved last week.

To get the stimulus money, Florida needed, and got, a waiver from Congress’ basic funding requirement — that states boost spending for education back to their 2005-06 levels. Florida’s spending in the coming year, even with the stimulus dollars, will be the smallest amount earmarked for schools since 2002-03.

Central Florida administrators said they were grateful for the federal money but worried that, if the economy does not improve, they will be in the same tough place in two years when it runs out.

“It’s very tenuous now, and we have to be very cautious,” said Seminole County Superintendent Bill Vogel.

At a meeting Monday, Vogel and other educators said they feared painful decisions on teacher layoffs and program reductions had only been delayed and that they would budget carefully for the coming year. Rising utility and health insurance costs, coupled with the need to pump up rainy day funds, means school districts will still make cuts as they finalize 2009-10 budgets.

But now they do not have to slash as deeply as they predicted months ago.

“It is giving the school districts two years of breathing room to save teachers’ jobs, prevent schools from closing, and improve education for children,” said U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, who met with some Central Florida superintendents Monday to tell them the news.

“Today is an important day for Florida’s education system,” agreed U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach. “Without this emergency funding, our schools would have been left with crippling budget deficits, forcing them to move forward with painful cuts.”

Leslie Postal can be reached at lpostal@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5273. For more news on schools, read the Sentinel’s education blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/schoolzone

Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel

http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/04/secretary-arne-duncan-visits-iowa/

According to a April 26, 2009 story in the Naples News, a group of exceptional student education parents and advocates who believe their voices are being silenced and continue to be silenced has been formed. Their communications and recommendations to their school board are being ignored.

Full story is at: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/apr/26/collier-school-board-criticized-not-addressing-spe/

BY MEGAN DOWNS • FLORIDA TODAY • April 2, 2009

Brevard Public Schools will receive $13.5 million to spend almost immediately on disadvantaged students, the first part of some federal stimulus money released Wednesday.
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While the money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, these funds can be spent only on special education students or students at schools where 40 percent or more of the population qualifies for free or reduced lunch, also known as Title I schools.

FULL ARTICLE AT: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090402/NEWS01/904020319/1086