From: "Nancy K. Martin" 
Subject: To survive, school for the blind needs more students (fwd)
   
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Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 10:18:04 -0800
From: Kelly Ford 
Reply-To: SJU List for Families of the Blind
     
To: BLINDFAM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: To survive, school for the blind needs more students (fwd)
Published Friday, December 26, 1997, in the St. Paul Pioneer Press
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To survive, school for the blind needs more students
TOM STILL COLUMNIST
MADISON It's no surprise that state Superintendent of Public Instruction
John Benson is encountering stiff opposition to his plan to close the
Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville. The school is
nearly as old as the state of Wisconsin itself, it has a loyal corps of
supporters who believe in its mission, and change could be difficult for
many of the students, parents and teachers involved.
But none of that makes Benson wrong in his basic assessment: It doesn't
make sense to spend $5.8 million per year to operate a school for 59
students, even students with very special needs.
Simple division says that's just under $100,000 per child. But even if you
accept the school's explanation that much of what it does is outreach
education for other blind and visually handicapped students, about $3.65
million would be saved by closing the school.
That's $3.65 million that would be available for all of the state's 1,144
blind students, the vast majority of whom are educated in 115 school
districts with special programs. The state Department of Public Instruction
recently asked what those 115 programs spend per student and found a range
of $14,000 to $30,000 per year, or about $20,000 for the typical program.
The cost of educating a child at the School for the Blind in Janesville is
about $60,000 -- three times as high.
No one, least of all career educator Benson, wants disabled children to be
deprived of services that will make them happy, productive adults. Money
spent now on children who are visually impaired will save society money
later.
But that's not an excuse to spend money ineffectively or to support two,
taxpayer-financed educational systems when one could do.
At a joint hearing of the Assembly and Senate Education Committees on Dec.
16, lawmakers heard from well-meaning people on both sides of the debate.
One piece of new information came from Sen. Tim Weeden, R-Beloit, and Rep.
Wayne Wood, D-Janesville, who said a survey of Wisconsin parents of blind
children showed that 29.4 percent did not know the school even exists.
Rather than close the school, Weeden and Wood suggested, the state, local
districts and the school itself should do a better job of informing parents
and recruiting students.
Here's a compromise: Determine what kind of enrollment at the school would
make it cost-efficient -- perhaps 130 students -- and set a deadline for a
recruitment campaign. If the goal is not met, go ahead with Benson's
recommendation to close the Janesville school (except for the summers) and
redirect the money to special education programs in local school districts.
Give the School for the Visually Handicapped a finite chance to recruit new
students, but if the demand doesn't exist, close it and redirect the
savings.
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