Once again, the whipping boy

 Once Again, the Whipping Boy

The Maryland State Department of Education has enlisted the services of the American Institutes for Research (AIRS), Afton Partners, and UPD Consulting to investigate the “true” cost of special education to the local school districts.  At issue is the question of whether State funding for special education should increase.  The kick off to the research is an online questionnaire that takes about 15-20 minutes to complete.  The intro information states that the input of non-public special ed administrators is welcome and encouraged.  Which is odd since none of the questions is designed for non-public input.

The questionnaire is obviously slanted to welcome concerns about the high cost of non-public tuition to the local districts.  This point is particularly interesting since the State reimburses the local districts up to 50% of the cost of the non-public tuition.  The reimbursement level often means it actually costs less for the school district to send a child to a non-public school than it does to serve the child in the public setting.

The requirement of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future that all children have pre-K at no cost to the family also raises the stakes.   State and federal law has required special ed services for kids with disabilities from birth through the age of 20, but those early childhood services have often been some speech or OT.  Full pre-k for kids with disabilities that are identified at a very early age means that the disabilities will be more severe.  

The biggest cost in education is staff salaries.  Once again, the Blueprint is increasing costs. Starting teacher salaries are scheduled to be $60,000 beginning on July 1, 2026.  School districts are struggling to meet that requirement.  Since special ed classes are required to be smaller in size personnel costs will go up.  As will the cost of the co-teaching model that puts a special ed teacher and a general ed teacher in the same classroom.

The results of the study will be interesting.  My bet is the results will show that educating all children regardless of ability level will, once again, be a reason to put the blame on special education.

 

What's the Scam on the treatment of autism?

 What’s the scam on treatment of autism?

Want to make some quick bucks fast?  Seems to be pretty easy.  First step, find some folks who qualify for Medicaid.  Then screen them to see if they have a child (ren) who may be on the autism spectrum. If not, get a quick dx and you are on the way. Now you are in sight of that pot of gold.

Autism treatment is funded by Medicaid.  The treatment does not need to be provided by a licensed professional.   Well the treatment folks are supposed to be qualified professionals but states aren’t checking.  A large chunk of the costs associated with Medicaid are reimbursed to the states by the federal government so states are not incentivized to be all that diligent in checking credentials.  In Minnesota there was a man who set up a fly-by-night autism center claiming to provide 1 on 1 therapy. He allegedly said he worked with medical professionals.  He also employed his teenage relatives with no formal education in the field.  He raked in six million dollars before he was caught.  

Maine Medicaid pays for clinical specialists to work with children with autism in their homes.  Yet when the state inspector general (IG) investigated, she found that roughly half the families who were collecting for the service did not even have a child with the autism diagnosis.  

A center in Colorado billed Medicaid for treatment provided by staff with no professional credentials.   Some of the “treatments” for which Medicaid was billed included playing games, napping, lunch and time at a water park water slide.  Some children received as much as $15,470 per month for the “treatments”.

Fraudsters will always be around to try to game the system, whatever that system is. Parents of kids on the spectrum are looking for help and a possible cure so they are easy victims. One would think that states would realize, it’s all taxpayer dollars, just coming from another pocket and do a better job of monitoring.  Every Medicaid dollar that goes towards a scam is a dollar not available for real help for kids and their families.

 

Most Disabled Kids get the shortest straw

 Most Disabled get the Shortest Straw

Federal and State law require that children with disabilities be provided a free and appropriate education.   When a school district does not have the resources or the skill set to provide that education, it must purchase the education from a Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) approved non-public special education school.  Each year, the MSDE approves the daily tuition rate for those schools down to the very exact cent.

Costs for heating and air have gone up.  Costs for delivery of all things cost more.  Health care costs have risen.  Staff hope for some salary increase to cover the cost of inflation.  Public school budgets are rising between 4-6%.  Inflation this past December was at 2.7%.  It is now 3.3%.  

The Governor who praised himself as the education Governor, has chosen to FREEZE the tuition for non-public special education schools for the 26-27 school year.  These schools serve the most-disabled kids, yet the Governor has chosen to freeze any increase for the cost of their education.

Under Maryland law, the State must maintain fiscal effort for education.  Consequently, every Governor gets to say he has provided more money for education than any other governor.  It’s the law but the governor gets to brag about that.

Not so for the most disabled children that our State serves. Children don't get to attend a non-public special ed school unless the district says it can't provide the appropriate education.   Yet tuition for these kids doesn’t count as education.  Their teachers are not unionized so their teachers get a raise only at the benevolence of the Governor.  This year- not happening.

Long ago I was told that the pigs first to the trough get the most money.  Our kids have significant disabilities.  By the time they get to the trough, most of the food is gone.