Boards warn of looming cuts targetting Special Ed
Vancouver and Victoria join the growing list of BC school districts warning that special education could bear the brunt of unprecedented budget cuts projected for 2010-11, due to unfunded costs that the province is downloading on school boards.
Surrey: Last week, Surrey DPAC warned that some $18-20 million in downloaded/unfunded provincial costs will result in program cuts that directly harm students. (Press release attached)
Victoria: Victoria trustees told the Times Colonist yesterday they would have to consider cutting the district's Special Education program to balance their budget.
Vancouver: Last week, Vancouver served notice that up to 800 teachers could be laid off to address a provincial funding shortfall ranging from $17 to $35 million, depending on what the province decides to fund in the upcoming provincial budget. And at a meeting for parents of students with special needs this week, the Board Chair acknowledged that special education was particularly vulnerable to cuts, since staff costs are protected via contracts and class size is now protected by legislation, leaving unprotected services like special education as one of the few areas they can cut.
Virtually every school board in the province is confronting similar choices, given the limited number of unprotected programs, like special ed, that they can cut to make up for unfunded provincial costs, since all boards are required by law to balance their budgets regardless of provincial funding shortfalls. Accentuating the looming threat to special education is that the province only funds half or less of what districts actually spend on special ed - a subsidy that is hard for trustees to defend when schools are being closed and core programs slashed.
At the core of this unprecedented crisis is the growing number of downloaded costs that the province has so far refused to cover in provincial education funding grants. These include further increases for teacher salaries and benefits under contracts that the province negotiated, new provincial carbon tax and carbon offset charges, increases to provincial MSP and WCP premiums, implementation costs of new provincial requirements like Bill 33 and full-day kindergarten, and general inflation, which the provincial funding formula also does not cover.
The provincial government will present its budget for 2010-11 in early March and has to date refused to consider new funding to cover these new costs, leaving districts projecting the largest deficits seen in a decade, and cuts that will seriously impact students.
Vulnerable kids unfairly targeted
Provincial officials are justifying the cuts by stating that districts have to tighten their belts like anyone else. This response fails to acknowledge that districts cannot force most district services to tighten their belts because they are protected by provincially-negotiated contracts and requirements. Staff will not sacrifice pay or benefits and boards must also find a way to cover new pay and benefit increases negotiated by the province. Along with provincial requirements governing a host of activities, from class size to reporting and administrative roles, this means districts actually have very few options or "discretionary" spending that can be cut when they are told to tighten their belts.
In effect, school board "belt tightening" amounts to downloading a provincial budgetary crisis onto the most vulnerable students in our public schools - students with special needs, ESL and Aboriginal students and those who need additional programs and supports to succeed. In failing to provide any policy to protect these programs and students while protecting everything from teacher pensions to teacher-student ratios in law, the province has created an uneven playing field that forces school boards to unfairly penalize their most vulnerable students whenever cuts must be made.
ADVOCACY: What you can do
The harsh reality facing our kids is just emerging and there is very little time to act. Parents and advocacy groups representing students with special needs and other vulnerable groups need to act immediately, by telling their MLAs, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, Finance Minister Colin Hansen and Premier Gordon Campell that it is not acceptable to target BC's most vulnerable students to solve a problem they had no hand in creating.
1. We need to convince government to cover all education costs in the 2010-11 budget before it is presented on March 3.
2. Strength in numbers. We can be most effective if we join with broader groups of parents, PACs and public education advocacy groups to demand that the province fully fund all provincially-mandated costs, including special education - instead of fighting each other for shares of an inadequate budget and ignoring the roots of the problem.
- Contact your PAC and DPAC and encourage them to write the Premier, FInance Minister, Education Minister and your local MLAs - just as Surrey DPAC has done.
- Join our growing Facebook group "Stop BC Education Cuts" to find out what other parents and districts are doing, to find and share information about cuts and to connect with other parents or advocacy efforts in your community.
Feb. 1 Victoria Vigil for lost children’s programs
Next Monday Victoria families will hold a candlelight vigil at the Legislature to protest the closure of the province's critical early intervention programs for autism (see notice below).
Children's Minister Mary Polak stopped funding the province's EIBI programs last fall to save $1.5 million annually, despite the desperate pleas of families and many studies confirming that these programs are hugely effective, saving on average $3 - 5 million PER CHILD in net lifetime costs to society (for more details and sources, see our EIBI Facts).
As a result, at least 70 BC children per year will be denied the intensive early behaviour intervention that provided the only hope for these children and their families of a near-normal life, unless they can afford to privately pay tens of thousands annually to top up inadequate subsidies and susbstitute programs to replicate the benefits that only a full EIBI program can offer.
These children join thousands more in BC who are already being denied access to the early intervention supports and programs that they need, due to foolish and short-sighted policies that place enormous and unnecessary strains on other provincial services, such as education, health care, welfare, community living, social housing, justice, etc etc....
Minister Polak and her colleagues also ordered the closure of a series of other cirtical children's programs (which collectively don't put the tiniest dent in the current provincial deficit). These include the provincial Infant Development, Supported Child Care and Aboriginal Supported Child Care program, the Roots of Empathy program, FASD prevention, child and youth mental health and more - all of which will directly impact children and create significantly higher long-term costs than the meagre short-term budgetary savings.
These actions cruelly target the province's most vulnerable children and directly violate Premier Campbell's 2005 promise to build "the best system of supports in Canada for children with special needs."
Your support
We invite families outside of Victoria who can't make it to the vigil to show their support by signing and circulating our petition calling on Premier Campbell to honour his promises to BC's children with special needs and/or by writing their MLAs to remind them that BC families will not rest until these and other programs are restored, and that all children with special needs are able to get the basic help and support they need - in a timely manner and in a form that respects their individual needs and those of their families.
The petition can be accessed online here.
Find out more and support the ongoing FAIR campaign to restore EIBI programs on Facebook
New manual on evidence-based Autism education
The U.S.-based National Autism Center, which released the landmark National Standards Report last July summarizing the evidence base for various options in autism treatment, has just released a comprehensive manual titled, Evidence-Based Practice and Autism in the Schools. The 181-page manual includes important findings from the Center's National Standards Report, touted as the most extensive analysis of treatments for children and adolescents with ASD ever published.
The Center, a nonprofit organization, is dedicated to supporting effective, evidence-based treatment approaches for individuals with ASD. The manual assists educators in selecting and implementing the most effective research-supported treatments for ASD. In addition to providing important information about newly published research findings, it offers guidance on how to integrate professional judgment, family values, and preferences into treatment selection in order to build capacity and implement interventions accurately.
Although obviously written for the U.S. context, the manual should offer valuable insights for educating students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Canadian context as well.
You can download a free copy of the manual or order a print copy for purchase here:
New evidence for EIBI as BC programs close
As autism early intervention programs in BC prepare to close their doors or significantly scale back services in coming weeks due to provincial funding cuts, leaving many desperate BC families in the lurch, the US media are all abuzz over a major new study published today in the journal Pediatrics. That study documented significant gains in toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Seattle area who were diagnosed and given intensive early behavioural intervention under a program known as the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) starting at a very early age.
Below are two of the news reports (Note: some, such as the CNN report, had major errors!):
- Time Magazine: New evidence that early therapy helps autistic kids
- CBC: Early intervention helps autistic toddlers
Some key points:
- Participants: The study focussed on toddlers - all children started treatment before they were 2.5 years old, some as young as 18 months old. (With recommendations to screen for autism at 18 months now, the authors wanted to demonstrate the efficacy of starting intensive intervention immediately upon diagnosis.)
- Randomized, controlled study: 48 children were randomly assigned to either the Early Start Denver Model or to regular services available in the community, such as preschools, private ABA providers, infant & child development programs ,etc.
- Study period: Gains for both groups were compared after 2 years of intervention.
- Results: After 2 years, the ESDM group had significant improvements in IQ, adaptive behaviour, and autism diagnosis, compared to the other group. The ESDM group developed at the same rate as typical children during the two years, while the control group fell further behind.
- 7 children in the ESDM group (30%) had their diagnosis downgraded from Autism to PDD-NOS after the 2 years, compared to one child in the control group.
Conclusion: The study results "compare favourably" with other controlled studies of intensive early intervention approaches. The gains seen were also larger than those seen in studies that used developmental behavioural approaches over shorter periods or with fewer hours of therapy delivered per week.
Early Start Denver Model
ESDM is a comprehensive early behavioural intervention for infants to preschool-aged children with ASD that integrates ABA with developmental and relationship-based approaches. Intervention is provided in the home by trained therapists and parents, and embedded in fun, interactive play activities.
For the study, ESDM children were provided 2-hour sessions, twice per day, 5 days/week by trained therapists. There was a detailed manual and curriculum, extensive parent training, ongoing supervision and consultation from a full multi-disciplinary team. Due to illness, vacations etc, the ESDM children ended up actually receiving an average of 15 hours/week from trained therapists and 16 hrs/week from parents during the 2 years.
Families in the control group received comprehensive advice on intervention, including resource manuals and reading materials. This group reported receiving an average of 9 hours of individual therapy and 9.3 hours/week of group therapy from regular community resources in the greater Seattle area, such as developmental preschools, local infant and child development programs and/or private ABA providers).
Sustainability
Intensive early intervention programs for autism cost ~ $50 - 70,000 per year but a major recent US study found that effective intervention can reduce the estimated lifetime costs of $3.2 million per child with autism by 65% on average. Source: US National Standards Report, 2009
BC Children's Minister Mary Polak has defended her decision to cut BC's early intervention programs and instead give families $6,000 - $22,000 each to spend on family-directed programs and community services, a move that will produce direct savings of $1.5 million per year, but which is expected to cost far more in the long run. After being forced to retract the rationale that BC's autism early intervention programs are not effective, Polak argued that the move is necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of BC's autism program.
Here is the link to the only Canadian study that I've been able to find on cost benefits of autism early intervention. It found that expanding intensive early intervention to all children with autism in Ontario would save government an estimated $45 million annually in 2003 dollars, while providing improved quality of life for individuals with autism and their families. Those savings disappeared if intervention programs were less effective than assumed under best practice models.
Good news & bad news
Two great items in the BC media today:
- A terrific Vancouver Sun Op Ed marking Children's Day by the Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond.
- An in-depth look at the cost benefits of investing in early intervention from The Tyee's Tom Sandborn.
The disturbing news arrived late on Friday afternoon via a BC Association for Community Living press release alerting the community & expressing well-deserved outrage at yet another stealth attack against families. The BC Liberals introduced and passed surprise legislation, despite the objections of the oppostion NDP, that eliminates the requirement to have family voices represented on the board that governs Community Living BC.
MOMs launches petition to mark Children’s Day
PRESS RELEASE:
MOMs marks Children’s Day, 20th year of UN Convention, with petition urging BC Premier to honour promises to kids
NOV. 19, 2009:—This Friday, Nov. 20 marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child – a date that is also celebrated annually in Canada and elsewhere as universal Children’s Day.
The MOMs provincial family support network, which has staged a series of actions in recent weeks to draw attention to BC families’ concerns about new cuts and ongoing gaps in critical services for children at risk, is marking the occasion by officially launching an online petition urging BC’s Premier to start living up to commitments made to BC’s vulnerable children.
Leaked MCFD memo reveals planned cuts
Leaked MCFD documents obtained today by MOMS describe a process that has been underway since August 2009 to achieve "baseline funding reductions" for contracted agencies that deliver most of the Ministry's front-line services and supports - with a focus on cuts to community-based intervention and early intervention.
The "North Region STOB 80 Reduction Planning Process and Principals" (sic) document refers to a process for "cost recovery" for the current year and outlines planning, roles, principles and provincial direction guiding a second process that is also now underway to determine further reductions for 2010-11 in order to meet Ministry budget targets.
Another week, another rally?
Families were out in the streets protesting against provincial autism policies again last week, this time in front of Premier Campbell's Point Grey constituency office in Vancouver. The rally was organized by FEAT BC (Families for Early Autism Treatment) along with the group Medicare for Autism and the ABA Support Network.
BC Children’s Budget debate
The BC Legislature debated the Ministry for Children & Family Development's revised 2009-10 budget on Nov 4-5. Below, an extract of Opposition Critic Maurine Karagianis questioning Minister Mary Polak about autism cuts:
"M. Karagianis: When we look at things like the EIBI program…. Let's talk about that very specifically — the financial implications, which the minister has said is really the sole issue here around why this program was cut. Why did the government not make an attempt to sit down with program providers and families and try and find a way to provide what is very admittedly an exceptional program with exceptional outcomes to more families, rather than saying, "Because we can only reach 70 families at a time, we're cutting the whole program," and rather than actually finding a way to make that very effective program available to, perhaps, more people?
Campaign update: Langley, next steps
1. Families gather in Langley to protest Autism cuts
Family photo: Nov 6 rally at Mary Polak's Langley office
Thanks to all the families who came out to Langley Friday for the rally co-hosted Friday by MOMS and FAIR (Families Fighting Against Autism Intervention Reductions) to highlight autism cuts. (Especially the heroic Victoria folks who got up at 5 am to pack up kids & minivans to make it!!).
A great family turn-out, strong local media interest & fantastic public support more than made up for the horrible weather. Mary Polak decided to close her office for the day, but no one seemed too offended. later, parents distributed hundreds of flyers (attached) explaining the impact of cuts & why they are so foolish, inhumane and short-sighted.
Check out a mini U-tube clip or photos of the energetic FAIR families on their Facebook page (pls join to show support while you're at it!)
Langley rally: One Mom tells it like it is
Next rally:
- Friday, November 13 at 12 noon
- Premier Gordon Campbell's MLA office, 3615 West 4th Ave in Point Grey, Vancouver.
This rally is organized by FEAT BC (Families for Early Autism Treatment) to highlight concerns over Minister Polak's cancellation of the direct funding option in the autism program. FEAT families supported the EIBI rally in Langley and we encourage other families to show support for their concerns. We're all in this together! ...and hopefully the BC government will start to see that we're not going away and we're not shutting up!
2. Next Steps: Broader MOMs campaign
Despite rallies, meeting, letters, calls & emails, government is still not listening. In addition to recent cuts to vital children's services (e.g. IDP, SCD and EIBI), Premier Campbell has failed to honour his promise to children with special needs and children at risk by fixing existing problems: waitlists, underfunding of Special Education, denial of early intervention services to many children, repeal of the IQ 70 limits to access services.
So MOMS is planning an extended next phase of action that takes our message directly to British Columbians, who have demonstrated strong support wherever we've created awareness of these concerns.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
We need financial support for this next phase to develop and run targeted ads and public service announcements in local community media, explaining why the cuts and the failure to fix other gaps for special needs and kids at risk is foolish, short-sighted and inhumane. We'll be urging British Columbians to take a simple step to indicate their support & join us in telling their MLAs, Premier Campbell and Minister Polak that BC's vulnerable kids deserve better and that cutting now means paying more later.
Please contact us if you can provide financial support or if you have potential leads or connections to other organizations in your community who can support this campaign. MOMs has already received our first grant (a big thank you to BC FamilyNet Society for helping to cover recent rally costs!!). Since having $$ is a first for MOMS, we are making arrangements with a "blue chip" registered organization to receive and manage further donations on our behalf.
Thanks for all those supporting us by participating or behind the scenes! With your support, we can do it! And when we actually get out and hear the fantastic public support out there, it makes all the effort worthwhile!!