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By Michael Bielawski
During a conversation about what constitutes ideal class size in the House Education Committee on Tuesday, Rep. Kate McCann, D-Montpelier, suggested against going with larger class sizes largely on account of the high percentage of special needs students in the average Vermont classroom.
“Twenty kids in a class, if we set that as the minimum, we’re looking at seven to eight kids on 504s and IEPs [programs designed to aid special-needs students] with one teacher teaching Algebra One,” McCann said.
She speaks on this matter at about eight minutes into their committee session. They are discussing H. 454, an effort by lawmakers to put the Governor’s education reform proposals, including block grants and consolidated districts, into legislation. The bill has since changed a lot as lawmakers hash out different ideas.
McCann suggests classroom sizes closer to 15.
“It’s what we have [to consider for special needs], which is why I was I don’t like the numbers that we came up with. I’m still at the twelve (kindergarten), fifteen (grades 1 through 4), eighteen (grades 5 through 8) numbers because it’s the norm.” For high school, they are leaning towards 20 with potential carvouts for advanced or specialty courses.
McCann’s legislative bio suggests she “made teaching her life’s work” and she has a Masters in curriculum and instruction from UVM, and she was the 2017 Vermont’s Teach of the Year.
Rep. Leanne Harple, D-Glover, brought up similar concerns.
“Is there any consideration for how many kids in these classes would be on IEPs or five zero fours, which might make it so that you wanted less total students in that classroom because of the amount of resources that we need to allocate for those situations?” she said.
Rep. Beth Quimby, R-Lyndon, suggested that where there are many special needs students in a classroom, there can sometimes be help.
“The class size wouldn’t change, but we might have a second adult,” she said.
Nearly 24% need help?
According to recent data from the Vermont Department of Education, for the 2022-23 school year, 18.6% of students were on an IEP (Improvised Education Plans). Also, 5.2% are English Language Learners.
This means that close to a quarter or 23.8% of students that school year may have needed extra time and resources from schools throughout their daily education. The same document also details how overall students’ proficiency in math and English dropped rapidly by about 10% between the years 2015 and 2022.
Bellweather.com did a 2020 study indicating what schools nationwide pay extra on average per special education student, and that amount for that year is $8,160.
Something happening to the children?
Recent comments by President Trump to Congress indicate that he has assigned US Secretary of Healthcare Robert Kennedy Jr. to investigate whether more students are having autism and other disorders compared to past generations.
“As an example, not long ago — you can’t even believe these numbers — 1 in 10,000 children had autism. 1 in 10,000. And now it’s 1 in 36. There’s something wrong. One in 36. Think of that,” Trump said on March 4.
RFK Jr. has asserted while speaking in New Hampshire in 2023 that liability protections for vaccine manufacturers starting in 1986 corresponded with a sharp uptick in various childhood disorders, as reported by True North Reports.
Reach out to your lawmakers
See all bills assigned to this committee here. Constituents may contact committee members (click link on name for bio, party affiliation, etc.) with comments, questions, and information at the following email addresses:
House Healthcare
Rep. Alyssa Black, Chair, ablack@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Francis McFaun, Vice Chair, fmcfaun@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Daisy Berbeco, Ranking Member, dberbeco@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Brian Cina, bcina@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Mari Cordes, Clerk, mcordes@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Wendy Critchlow, wcritchlow@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Allen “Penny” Demar, ademar@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Leslie Goldman, lgoldman@leg.state.vt.us
Rep. Lori Houghton, LHoughton@leg.state.vt.us
All committee transcripts are available at http://www.goldendomevt.com. The Committee meeting video is available at the committee’s YouTube channel. The committee meets in the morning in Room 42.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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Categories: Education, Legislation, State Government
Years ago, a couple of decades ago in fact, when I served on one of our local school boards, and when faced with ever increasing student enrollments with IEPs and 504 programs, the then Dept. of Ed. (now the Agency of Education) conducted an audit of our district’s Special Education Department and found that 40% of the students coded as learning disabled were inappropriately designated.
The audit found that because those students simply didn’t learn to read in the K thru 3rd grades, and as they fell behind in grade level performance for a year or two, they were automatically coded as learning disabled.
But when those same students reached our 7th and 8th grade School Choice Tuitioning programs (because our district had no 7th & 8th grade public school), IEP and 504 designations declined… because as parents were able to choose a school (public or independent) that better suited the needs of their children, instead of being subject to the one-size-fits-all public school dogma, academic performance improved. And, lo and behold, when those students returned to the public high school, IEP and 504 designations increased again.
And there was another factor not mentioned in this article. Spending on students with IEPs was reimbursed to the authorized school, from about 50% of cost up to 90%. Clearly, school districts were incentivized to increase IEP designations.
In other words, the tail is wagging the dog. Which explains why the definition of learning disability has expanded too. Most children with IEPs and 504s today fall into the category of Behavioral Disabilities. No, we don’t have an increase in blind students, or deaf students, or students with Cerebral Palsy, or Downs Syndrome. We have a plethora of students who won’t behave. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that public school disciplinary practices (such as they are) contribute to expanding bad behavior. Lord only knows how anyone is ‘supposed’ to act these days.
In the final analysis, learning disabled students are profitable for the school districts and schools providing those services. At least they were until November 5th last, when the move to shrink the Federal Dept. of Education began. Because special education is a federally mandated program, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandated reimbursements are in jeopardy.
So now “The task of weaning various people and groups from the national nipple will not be easy. The sound of whines, bawls, screams and invective will fill the air as the agony of withdrawal pangs finds voice (Linda Bowles).”
But do not despair. The solution is as plain as the nose on our collective faces. Forget the one-size-fits-all contrivances from the education special interest groups. All we need to do is expand that very same 7th & 8th grade tuition program that works so very well in my school district, and that works well in 90 or so other districts throughout Vermont. That’s right. Simply expanding School Choice Tuitioning to all Vermont students will begin to bring us back to normal… AND save taxpayer money.
Having spent some time as a “sub teacher” in my local grade school, I can assure you that behavioral issues are a big part of the “special needs” children. If the child isn’t receiving the attention, and/or, discipline at home guess how they act in school. I had one particular student that was VERY bright, but needed attention, so she acted out during class. It became very obvious that she knew exactly what she was doing. Long story-short-I became involved with the situation, as an occasional sub, and observer, in her class. When I went in one morning I was told that I was to be her one-on-one that day. She had finally gotten her way, although not for help with her class work. I could write a book about all of the different situations.
I recently had a conversation with a retired teacher, and we shared that behavioral issues are one of the cost drivers in schools, as well as a high number of disability issues.
I also want to add that, in my experience, in a classroom of 15, or so, students it was not uncommon to have at least 2 or 3 assistants with the “special needs” children.
Having served on a school board does not make one an educator. Unfortunately, schools today need to address the issues which used to be addressed in the home. Vermont is most fortunate to have dedicated teachers like Kate McCann.
It seems that non-traditional family/broken/fatherless home situations may be the biggest cost driver of education because of the extra personnel on hand to deal with the behavioral issues.