Sequestration To Deeply Affect Special Education and Children With Special Needs, Notes Palo Alto Estate Planning Attorney

Palo Alto, CA (Law Firm Newswire) April 23, 2013 – The looming sequester has special education advocates concerned.

Nationally, sequestration looks to eliminate federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2013 by as much as $1 billion. That would leave as many as 7,200 special education educators without covered salaries. The cuts would also bump the amount of money the federal government contributes toward special education back to what it was in 2005.

“States across the county are looking at huge cuts,” notes Palo Alto estate planning attorney Michael Gilfix.

It is estimated that Minnesota would lose approximately $9.2 million, Texas would lose close to $51 million and here in California, special education would lose as much as $63 million.

IDEA protects existing services for special needs students from being cut, even if there is a loss of federal funding. States will be required to find other ways to fund the services, whether it is layoffs, salary cuts, or taxation, to fill any funding hole left by sequestration. The sequestration is also expected to hit education for the disadvantaged particularly hard. Approximately 70,000 children are expected to be dropped from the low-income program Head Start, while as many as 10,000 jobs for teachers may be on the chopping block. States hard-pressed to meet funding needs will now, in one year, be that much more overburdened.

The funding cuts will not go into effect until the school year 2013-2014. Special education programs currently running will have the funding to continue until the end of this school year, though there are programs located on federal land which will lose as much as $60 million in funding immediately, such as American Indian programs and military base programs.

Schools plan one year ahead, which means within the next few weeks, administrators will be finalizing their budgets and class sizes for next year. Students with special needs and students living in poverty may only have a few short months remaining to receive the services they need.

To learn more, visit Gilfix & La Poll Associates LLP at http://www.gilfix.com/.

Gilfix & La Poll Associates LLP
2300 Geng Rd., Suite 200
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Telephone: (650) 493-8070
http://www.gilfix.com/

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