By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – A report on state-run schools for children with severe disabilities finds it costs more to teach them in separate schools than through their local district.
That's the conclusion advocates say they fear, adding they don't feel it tells the whole story.
The Government Review Commission recommended the study, saying Missouri is the only state with a separate state-run system for such students. The aim of the study was to determine whether its structure is an effective use of funding.
The study does not call for shutting the schools down, and state education officials aren't taking that step either, but advocates and parents fear that will come next.
They say they're particularly wary in light of past administration actions, such as Medicaid cuts and proposals to close the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center and end a program that serves toddlers with developmental disabilities.
The report found that it cost $56 million to serve 1,826 severely disabled students last school year. That amounts to only about 15% of Missouri students who are mentally retarded. The average cost per student at a state school was $30,677, while the average of a student being taught in the local district was $24,532.
The report from LAN Resources of St. Joseph also concluded that nationwide, severely disabled students are most often taught in a separate classroom within the local district.
"Throughout the nation, the state directors of special education stated that placing students with severe disabilities in a local district setting, with access to regular educational classrooms, while participating in some general education curriculum as best practices," the report stated. "It was not their goal to place these students in separate facilities."
But the study also included results of surveys with parents of severely disabled students. Parents of those in state schools were generally satisfied with their children's education, more so than parents of disabled students who attend classes in the local district, according to the report.
Gov. Matt Blunt's spokesman, Brian Hauswirth, said that parent satisfaction would weigh into the governor's consideration of the issue. He also said he's not aware of any plans to change the state schools, much less close them.
"The governor will take a look at everything. Right now I don't see any massive rush to do anything on this," he said Tuesday.
Berty Schulte, the state's Deputy Education Commissioner, said Tuesday the agency will use the report to determine if there are better ways to serve students with severe mental and physical disabilities and to continue the goal of teaching students at the local level when possible.
But he also said there's no immediate push to close state schools, while noting the student population in the schools has fallen over the years.
"The basis of pursuing the information was not directed at nor intended to be a discussion of whether the state schools should be continued or not," he said. "The possibility of creating the improved capacity for local service is a message I see in the report, but I think that's a gradual process."
The strategy also varied among districts, the report found, with some handling nearly all severely disabled students locally and others sending nearly all to the state school. The cost per student also varied widely among districts, from about $13,000 in Holden to about $44,000 in Blue Springs.
Among the reasons districts offered for sending students to state schools was the prohibitive costs to provide needed services locally.
Craig Henning, executive director of the Disability Resource Association in Crystal City, said his group is ready to fill the Capitol with parents and advocates if needed to keep the state schools running.
Henning also said state officials shouldn't draw much from the cost comparisons, saying a therapist in a local district could work with many more students, some of whom have only a physical disability, than a therapist at a state school, where children have many mental and physical disabilities.
"In a whole district you're going to fan that out and a cost-per-student ratio will drop," he said. "They're taking data and skewing it to make it look like it's a feasible thing when in fact it's really not."
Local school districts would need significantly more resources if the students in state schools were transferred to local districts, he said. "The cost to the districts would be astronomical," he said.