Miss-Delectable
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Gov. Cuomo's budget ax may chop schools for blind, deaf and severely disabled
Gov. Cuomo wants to slash state funding to schools for the blind, deaf and severely disabled - and is asking local school districts to pick up the tab.
Cuomo's proposed budget eliminates all direct funding to 11 schools serving such children - including three in the Bronx, one in Queens and one in Brooklyn.
"To do this to our kids is just not right," said Jeannette Christie of Throgs Neck, the Bronx, whose son suffers from a rare vision disorder and attends the New York Institute for Special Education in her home borough. "These schools are needed."
Advocates say the move is a departure from tradition because the state has financed the education of the blind and deaf directly for more than a century.
"The students who come to our school are some of the most vulnerable people in the state," said Frank Simpson, superintendent of the Lavelle School for the Blind in the Bronx.
Under the governor's budget, the state would rely on local districts to front the money to fund the schools. The state would then partly reimburse the districts.
Still, the state's annual contribution would shrink by roughly $14 million, and advocates say it would take too long to get the money. They claim the change could shutter the schools, displacing 1,500 children in need of special care.
But a state Budget Division spokesman said the cut was a needed savings and that the proposal would advance "consistency and equal treatment" of all students at the schools, which cost the state $112 million a year.
A city Education Department spokesman said the impact the shift could have is still being evaluated.
Gov. Cuomo wants to slash state funding to schools for the blind, deaf and severely disabled - and is asking local school districts to pick up the tab.
Cuomo's proposed budget eliminates all direct funding to 11 schools serving such children - including three in the Bronx, one in Queens and one in Brooklyn.
"To do this to our kids is just not right," said Jeannette Christie of Throgs Neck, the Bronx, whose son suffers from a rare vision disorder and attends the New York Institute for Special Education in her home borough. "These schools are needed."
Advocates say the move is a departure from tradition because the state has financed the education of the blind and deaf directly for more than a century.
"The students who come to our school are some of the most vulnerable people in the state," said Frank Simpson, superintendent of the Lavelle School for the Blind in the Bronx.
Under the governor's budget, the state would rely on local districts to front the money to fund the schools. The state would then partly reimburse the districts.
Still, the state's annual contribution would shrink by roughly $14 million, and advocates say it would take too long to get the money. They claim the change could shutter the schools, displacing 1,500 children in need of special care.
But a state Budget Division spokesman said the cut was a needed savings and that the proposal would advance "consistency and equal treatment" of all students at the schools, which cost the state $112 million a year.
A city Education Department spokesman said the impact the shift could have is still being evaluated.
