Re: [Mpls] Mpls Educ Funding Alert--Reply to Swift

[Brobson34]

We know that special education funding is already woefully inadequate, due to the tens of millions of dollars in difference between what the federal government mandates and what the federal government pays to ensure those mandates are taken care of in Minnesota. Now Mr. Swift blithely assumes that if we axe a few more millions, then the system will find a way to "economize and increase efficiency before cutting services" (I notice he's backed off on the fraud and corruption talk when called upon for specifics). I guess it's easy to be so cavalier about the abrogation of federal law (which in effect is what not funding mandates accomplishes) and the deprivation of a quality education for disabled kids when you don't have to work with them up close and personal, as Ms. Kosnoff does.
Since Mr. Swift seems to be big on accountability, let's get something straight: There is no record of widespread corruption in the special education systems of Minnesota. There is, however, in black and white, a disparity between the amount of money the feds deem necessary to ensure a rightful and legal education for every special ed kid, and the amount of money they actually send. Given that disparity, it would seem as if Governor Ventura might exempt this particularly vulnerable population (as opposed to, say, the builders of a train line to St. Cloud) from his "everybody feels pain" budget cuts.

Talk about blaming the victims. Sheesh.

Britt Robson
Lyndale