Recently, the “Team 5 Investigates” television news team reported that special education costs are “rising rapidly” and local school districts claimed that special education costs are “out of control.” The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents stated that regular education and staffing budget cuts were a direct result of the high cost of special edu­cation. The promotional line that aired during the commercial breaks stated, “Special Education is cheating regular ed.”

The Federation respectfully disagrees. Neither special educa­tion students nor their parents are cheating the educational system. It is true is that school budgets are stretched and school districts struggle to provide adequate school fund­ing, but special education is not the only culprit. I have been a school committee member for 12 years, and have helped construct 12 annual school budgets. In addition to rising spe­cial education costs, the costs of textbooks, utilities (in par­ticular heating oil and gas), staff salaries and their associat­ed health benefits packages have all increased dramatically. Since 1980 (the same year that the citizen tax petition known as Proposition 2 ½ took effect), the cost of providing a public education to our students has increased 5-7% per year. Indeed, our revenue increases have not been able to keep pace with the rising costs. However, to conclude that special education is the sole or even primary reason for the crisis in educational fund­ing is erroneous.

What is missing from this conversation is that accommodations that enable children with disabilities to be educated alongside their peers provide tremendous benefits to all students, and is really an investment in every student’s future. My children’s friends can de­scribe, in detail, the benefits they have gained from growing up and going to school with my kids. I am sure they are not alone. To conclude that stu­dents with special needs have cheated any student is outrageous! To place their families in a demeaning position is uncon­scionable. To determine that the source of school funding problems is caused by the most vulnerable stu­dents and not by a lack of willingness to adequately fund educa­tion is disheartening.

The report found that educators agree this discussion is not about whether or not students with special needs deserve a good education. It is about who should bear the “burden of the cost.” It seems to me education costs are a shared responsibility that should not pit one group against the other. Rabbi Hillel, a Jewish scholar said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” To paraphrase, if we do not advocate for our students with special needs, who will? If we do not advocate on behalf of all students, what future does any student have? The time is now.

In support of all students,
Richard J. Robison

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