At a recent appearance before the State Assembly Speaker's Commission on Education, the acting commissioner of the Department of Education, Vito A. Gagliardi Sr., promised an 18 percent increase in state aid for special education, but called on the federal government to fulfill its funding commitment. Compounding the problem has been the failure of the federal government to honor its commitment to children with disabilities. In 1975, Congress passed the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Along with requiring that students with disabilities receive a free public education that fits their needs, the government promised to pay 40 percent of the associated costs. That pledge has never been realized, and the percentage of funding from the federal government has hovered about 12 percent.
School districts have two choices when educating students with special needs.
Depending on the student and the district's facilities, a district can educate a student on campus or pay tuition for that student to attend a private school that emphasizes special needs. Teachers at Kingsway are trained to address a wide range of students' needs. Large school districts tend to have in-house facilities for special education, which administrators say may be just as expensive or more expensive. Medford has more than 300 special-needs children among its 2,800 students. All but 38 of the special-needs students stay in the district.