Special education costs put pressure on taxes

BANGOR – The school budget will be stretched thinner than ever next year because of a Department of Education plan to have communities pick up part of the tab for the special needs of students who are wards of the state, the superintendent said Tuesday.

As if finances weren’t tight enough already, Bangor will be responsible for 15 percent to 20 percent – or around $100,000 – of the $500,000 that the city on average bills the state for special education for children in foster care, Superintendent Robert “Sandy” Ervin told the school committee.

He said that according to a letter he received last week from Commissioner of Education Duke Albanese, the state can’t keep up with the rising costs of special education. Albanese said June’s reimbursement to school districts will be delayed until July, after the new fiscal year has started, Ervin said.

“So next year we’re looking at the clear possibility that we’ll be paying a portion” of the special education expenses for foster children, he said.

Not only does this place a heavy burden on property taxpayers, but it represents a “huge, moral and ethical issue,” Ervin said.

“The state is abandoning its responsibility to these children who have no other place to go. The federal government has bailed out, the state has bailed out, but according to law we can’t bail out – we can’t say we aren’t going to do this. We can’t pass the buck – there’s nobody behind us to give this expense to.”

Many of the special education foster children in Bangor come from all over the state, Ervin said.

For example, Bangor’s Elizabeth Levinson Center – a state-operated intermediate care facility for children with mental retardation and developmental disabilities – treats youngsters from places like Argyle, Smyrna Mills, Lubec and Fort Kent.

“When they get placed in our community they become our responsibility,” Ervin said. “And we’re happy to develop the programs. But for us to have to pay for these kids isn’t right. They’re the state’s responsibility.”

But special education wasn’t the only reason Ervin was dismayed. State support for Bangor schools in general has dwindled to almost nothing, he said.

Based on the proposed 2.34 percent increase in General Purpose Aid to schools in the second year of the biennium, Bangor’s anticipated revenue for 2003 is $148,948, less than half of last year’s increase, Ervin said.

“We’re getting creamed,” Ervin said.

The superintendent has little control over the majority of budget increases, he said, noting that 80 percent of the costs have to do with rising salaries and health insurance. Transportation, vocational education and debt service also are going up, he said.

“From now until the end of April there will have to be a heavy dose of reality therapy for the Legislature,” he said. “Either [members] come up with other sources of revenue or restructure the way the state receives revenue, or they are going to pass on a horrendous property tax increase to local communities.”

The school committee got to hear some good news, too.

The school system has begun implementing drug abuse awareness education into classes at the Cohen and Doughty middle schools and at Bangor High School, Dr. Murray Shulman of the Office of Pupil Services said. Elementary schools already have programs like D.A.R.E., he said.

This year sixth-graders will receive information about drugs commonly abused, their effect on the human body, how to tell whether someone is abusing drugs and where he or she can find treatment and support, Shulman said.

Similar subjects are addressed in grade seven through a science textbook, Shulman said.

As part of a pilot program at the high school, biology and chemistry classes are discussing topics including the effect of abused substances on the brain, physical changes associated with substance abuse, and the effect of drug abuse on the developing fetus.

“We believe the key issue is reinforcement,” Ervin said. “If students hear the message over and over again, maybe they’ll make better decisions when it comes down to what they’re going to do on a Friday or Saturday night.”