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be aware that every child in this country is now guaranteed a public education regardless of their physical or mental capabilities. 1 would hope that we all agree this is as it should be, all children should be given an opportunity to maximize their abilities to the highest attainable level.
Part of the goal in the special education area is providing a feeling of self worth and the skills to better provide for themselves as adults. Money spent at this level should decrease the need for Social Services at a later date. ,
We should also be aware that funding of this guarantee has been placed on the shoulders of the already financially burdened local school systems. Combine this with the fact that advances in medical science will undoubtedly increase the numbers of children who will enter the system under the Special Education category, and we can see that funding is, and has already become, an issue that must be dealt with.
The present funding formula for Virginia is not designed to deal with this issue and probably never could be. Because the needs of each Special Education student can vary from no impact on the system to $10,000 or more per year, it is impossible to develop an annual budget that can deal with these funding demands. We do not want to create a situation where we must take money away from one group of students in order to meet the demands of another group.
So what do we do? The program is needed, but present funding is and will remain inadequate. Local funding is limited and has been shown to be a poor method for funding education.
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