S.233 could provide more resources for students with disabilities and their families

By Roxy Vanderhoff, for the Community News Service

Alexis Palmer is a developmental educator who has experienced the importance of special education firsthand. With a degree in applied psychology and education advocacy, she said supporting S.233, a bill aiming to support students with disabilities and their families, was a no-brainer. 

“I myself am a special needs mother to a 4-year-old son who has an autism diagnosis level three,” Palmer told the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare on Feb. 27. “He’s non-verbal — he’s a complex child. And through entering that as a parent, not just a professional, that’s where this gap really opened up for me.”

S.233 would create a two-year pilot program that would award grants to school districts, nonprofits and parent-child centers to help navigate the complex process of creating special education plans for students.

As an expert in the field, Palmer said fellow parents and educators agreed that she was the right person to be behind this bill. 

“I have parents coming to me all the time asking for help,” she said. “I started the conversation, and I was a part of the initial writing of the bill as well.” 

Once the bill was conceptualized, Palmer reached out to Sen. Rebecca White, D-Windsor, for support. White said she was excited to take it up as the bill’s main sponsor. Among her reasons, White said the ability to “help parents be able to advocate during the IEP process” was at the top of the list. 

An IEP, or an individualized education program, is meant to help students with disabilities gain the resources and instruction they need to succeed academically. 

S.223 supporters hope the bill would help this process become less of a daunting task, largely through the grant money which could be used to provide training for parents of children with disabilities and their advocates.  

The IEP process is “a very difficult process for many parents, and it can impact a child’s life greatly,” White said. “It can impact where they go to school, for example, who their teachers are, what student population they are in, and have long term, lifelong impacts.” 

The bill would allocate $250,000 to the Agency of Human Services for special education family advocacy development. 

“The pilot program would essentially get something rolling,” Palmer said on Feb. 27. “So, every state has some different kind of system. There are some states that have a program like this through their vocational rehabilitation. Some states have it through a designated agency, like a non-profit. Vermont is one of those states that doesn’t really have a formalized structure.”

Palmer hopes the bill would support those who have less access to special education resources, like low-income families. 

“Disability doesn’t discriminate,” she said. “I just don’t feel that parents shouldn’t be able to access help just because they can’t pay for it.”

Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, said that while she understands the need for the conversation, she foresees pushback on the bill’s financial requirements and its ability to pass.

Despite potential financial concerns, White is hopeful that H.640 will raise awareness for students with disabilities and their families, especially in the country’s current climate. 

“The federal government is stripping away protections for special needs students and families at an alarming rate, so I think anything that we can do to provide at the state-level advocacy and support for those individuals, this is the time,” White said.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship.