Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • DRLC To State of California: Stop Balancing The Budget On The Backs of Students With Disabilities

    Uploaded by

    Disability Rights Legal Center
    40 views2 pages
    DRLC Press Release: “Stop Balancing The Budget On The Backs Of Students With Disabilities” Disability Rights Legal Center Says To State LOS ANGELES―In an effort to protect the rights of students with disabilities to attend school, the Disability Rights Legal Center filed a motion to intervene today in the lawsuit brought by Los Angeles Unified School District against the State of California. This lawsuit seeks to stop the “trigger” cuts to the California budget that would eliminate $38 million from LAUSD’s transportation budget. The school district filed a lawsuit last week asking the court for an order to halt the cuts because it cannot withstand further budget cuts without adversely impacting the educational benefits offered to its students. According to LAUSD, any money to pay for required transportation as a result of these cuts would come from classroom dollars out of the general fund. DRLC represents a student and his mother, as well as the class of parents whose children are entitled to transportation services for purposes of special education. DRLC’s complaint argues that students should not have to choose between two protected rights―the right to necessary transportation services under special education law and the right to adequate classroom instruction. There are more than 13,000 students entitled to special education-related transportation services in the district, which means that without transportation most of these students will not attend school. Under federal and state special education mandates neither LAUSD nor the state can legally cut these services . V.Z., the student DRLC represents, receives Home-to-School transportation services as part of his education program. He is a 13-year-old young man in general education classes who has spastic quadriplegia, unspecified dwarfism, and epiphyseal dysplasia in his hip joints. Eligible for special education services since the age of four, he uses a wheelchair for mobility and also has a tracheostomy, gastrostomy tube and asthma. He receives daily assistance from a healthcare assistant throughout his entire school day and when he rides the bus to and from school. The healthcare assistant attends to his tracheostomy suctioning, feeding, medication administration, toileting and catheterization. Transportation is an essential component of his special educational program. Students in special education, including those with physical or cognitive disabilities, may need transportation for a number of reasons. Some students may be placed at a school far from their home because that particular school may have a program tailored to his or her needs that is unavailable at the local school. Other students may require transportation between school and other locations where he or she receives therapies or services related to education and provided for in the special education plan. At their core, these transportation services allow the student to access an education, and that right is mandated by federal law. “A lawsuit should not be required in order to educate students with disabilities in our schools. Time and again we see the State of California cutting critical services to people with disabilities as a means to balance the budget,” says Paula Pearlman, the DRLC’s Executive Director. “These efforts do more harm than good, in both the short and long term. You must be in school to learn, and without teachers and transportation, we might as well just lock the schoolhouse doors.” “It’s disheartening that California is targeting its students, and in particular, its students with disabilities, in these cuts,” says Shawna L. Parks, Legal Director for the Disability Rights Legal Center. “This approach to balancing the budget is both legally and morally wrong.” ### Founded in 1975, the Disability Rights Legal Center is a nonprofit organization that champions the rights of people with disabilities through advocacy, education and litigation. For more information about the DRLC

    Original Title

    DRLC to State of California: Stop Balancing The Budget On The Backs Of Students With Disabilities

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    DRLC Press Release: “Stop Balancing The Budget On The Backs Of Students With Disabilities” Disability Rights Legal Center Says To State LOS ANGELES―In an effort to protect the rights of students with disabilities to attend school, the Disability Rights Legal Center filed a motion to intervene today in the lawsuit brought by Los Angeles Unified School District against the State of California. This lawsuit seeks to stop the “trigger” cuts to the California budget that would eliminate $38 million from LAUSD’s transportation budget. The school district filed a lawsuit last week asking the court for an order to halt the cuts because it cannot withstand further budget cuts without adversely impacting the educational benefits offered to its students. According to LAUSD, any money to pay for required transportation as a result of these cuts would come from classroom dollars out of the general fund. DRLC represents a student and his mother, as well as the class of parents whose children are entitled to transportation services for purposes of special education. DRLC’s complaint argues that students should not have to choose between two protected rights―the right to necessary transportation services under special education law and the right to adequate classroom instruction. There are more than 13,000 students entitled to special education-related transportation services in the district, which means that without transportation most of these students will not attend school. Under federal and state special education mandates neither LAUSD nor the state can legally cut these services . V.Z., the student DRLC represents, receives Home-to-School transportation services as part of his education program. He is a 13-year-old young man in general education classes who has spastic quadriplegia, unspecified dwarfism, and epiphyseal dysplasia in his hip joints. Eligible for special education services since the age of four, he uses a wheelchair for mobility and also has a tracheostomy, gastrostomy tube and asthma. He receives daily assistance from a healthcare assistant throughout his entire school day and when he rides the bus to and from school. The healthcare assistant attends to his tracheostomy suctioning, feeding, medication administration, toileting and catheterization. Transportation is an essential component of his special educational program. Students in special education, including those with physical or cognitive disabilities, may need transportation for a number of reasons. Some students may be placed at a school far from their home because that particular school may have a program tailored to his or her needs that is unavailable at the local school. Other students may require transportation between school and other locations where he or she receives therapies or services related to education and provided for in the special education plan. At their core, these transportation services allow the student to access an education, and that right is mandated by federal law. “A lawsuit should not be required in order to educate students with disabilities in our schools. Time and again we see the State of California cutting critical services to people with disabilities as a means to balance the budget,” says Paula Pearlman, the DRLC’s Executive Director. “These efforts do more harm than good, in both the short and long term. You must be in school to learn, and without teachers and transportation, we might as well just lock the schoolhouse doors.” “It’s disheartening that California is targeting its students, and in particular, its students with disabilities, in these cuts,” says Shawna L. Parks, Legal Director for the Disability Rights Legal Center. “This approach to balancing the budget is both legally and morally wrong.” ### Founded in 1975, the Disability Rights Legal Center is a nonprofit organization that champions the rights of people with disabilities through advocacy, education and litigation. For more information about the DRLC

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    40 views2 pages

    DRLC To State of California: Stop Balancing The Budget On The Backs of Students With Disabilities

    Uploaded by

    Disability Rights Legal Center
    DRLC Press Release: “Stop Balancing The Budget On The Backs Of Students With Disabilities” Disability Rights Legal Center Says To State LOS ANGELES―In an effort to protect the rights of students with disabilities to attend school, the Disability Rights Legal Center filed a motion to intervene today in the lawsuit brought by Los Angeles Unified School District against the State of California. This lawsuit seeks to stop the “trigger” cuts to the California budget that would eliminate $38 million from LAUSD’s transportation budget. The school district filed a lawsuit last week asking the court for an order to halt the cuts because it cannot withstand further budget cuts without adversely impacting the educational benefits offered to its students. According to LAUSD, any money to pay for required transportation as a result of these cuts would come from classroom dollars out of the general fund. DRLC represents a student and his mother, as well as the class of parents whose children are entitled to transportation services for purposes of special education. DRLC’s complaint argues that students should not have to choose between two protected rights―the right to necessary transportation services under special education law and the right to adequate classroom instruction. There are more than 13,000 students entitled to special education-related transportation services in the district, which means that without transportation most of these students will not attend school. Under federal and state special education mandates neither LAUSD nor the state can legally cut these services . V.Z., the student DRLC represents, receives Home-to-School transportation services as part of his education program. He is a 13-year-old young man in general education classes who has spastic quadriplegia, unspecified dwarfism, and epiphyseal dysplasia in his hip joints. Eligible for special education services since the age of four, he uses a wheelchair for mobility and also has a tracheostomy, gastrostomy tube and asthma. He receives daily assistance from a healthcare assistant throughout his entire school day and when he rides the bus to and from school. The healthcare assistant attends to his tracheostomy suctioning, feeding, medication administration, toileting and catheterization. Transportation is an essential component of his special educational program. Students in special education, including those with physical or cognitive disabilities, may need transportation for a number of reasons. Some students may be placed at a school far from their home because that particular school may have a program tailored to his or her needs that is unavailable at the local school. Other students may require transportation between school and other locations where he or she receives therapies or services related to education and provided for in the special education plan. At their core, these transportation services allow the student to access an education, and that right is mandated by federal law. “A lawsuit should not be required in order to educate students with disabilities in our schools. Time and again we see the State of California cutting critical services to people with disabilities as a means to balance the budget,” says Paula Pearlman, the DRLC’s Executive Director. “These efforts do more harm than good, in both the short and long term. You must be in school to learn, and without teachers and transportation, we might as well just lock the schoolhouse doors.” “It’s disheartening that California is targeting its students, and in particular, its students with disabilities, in these cuts,” says Shawna L. Parks, Legal Director for the Disability Rights Legal Center. “This approach to balancing the budget is both legally and morally wrong.” ### Founded in 1975, the Disability Rights Legal Center is a nonprofit organization that champions the rights of people with disabilities through advocacy, education and litigation. For more information about the DRLC

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 2

    MEDIA ADVISORY

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 20, 2011 CONTACTS: Shawna Parks, Disability Rights Legal Center 213-736-1477 Paula Pearlman, Disability Rights Legal Center 213-736-8362 Stop Balancing The Budget On The Backs Of Students With Disabilities Disability Rights Legal Center Says To State LOS ANGELESIn an effort to protect the rights of students with disabilities to attend school, the Disability Rights Legal Center filed a motion to intervene today in the lawsuit brought by Los Angeles Unified School District against the State of California. This lawsuit seeks to stop the trigger cuts to the California budget that would eliminate $38 million from LAUSDs transportation budget. The school district filed a lawsuit last week asking the court for an order to halt the cuts because it cannot withstand further budget cuts without adversely impacting the educational benefits offered to its students. According to LAUSD, any money to pay for required transportation as a result of these cuts would come from classroom dollars out of the general fund. DRLC represents a student and his mother, as well as the class of parents whose children are entitled to transportation services for purposes of special education. DRLCs complaint argues that students should not have to choose between two protected rightsthe right to necessary transportation services under special education law and the right to adequate classroom instruction. There are more than 13,000 students entitled to special educationrelated transportation services in the district, which means that without transportation most of these students will not attend school. Under federal and state special education mandates neither LAUSD nor the state can legally cut these services. V.Z., the student DRLC represents, receives Home-to-School transportation services as part of his education program. He is a 13-year-old young man in general education classes who has spastic quadriplegia, unspecified dwarfism, and epiphyseal dysplasia in his hip joints. Eligible for special education services since the age of four, he uses a wheelchair for mobility and also has a tracheostomy, gastrostomy tube and asthma. He receives daily assistance from a healthcare assistant throughout his entire school day and when he rides the bus to and from school. The healthcare assistant attends to his tracheostomy suctioning, feeding, medication administration, toileting and catheterization. Transportation is an essential component of his special educational program.
    DisabilityRightsLegalCenter Locatedat:LoyolaLawSchoolPublicInterestLawCenter800S.FigueroaStreet,Suite1120LosAngeles,CA90017 Telephone2137361031TDD2137368310/8311VideoRelay8669128193 PROTECTINGTHEPOSSIBILITIESSINCE1975
    FoundedinMemoryofA.MiltonMiller

    DISABILITY RIGHTS LEGAL CENTER December 20, 2011 Page 2 of 2 Students in special education, including those with physical or cognitive disabilities, may need transportation for a number of reasons. Some students may be placed at a school far from their home because that particular school may have a program tailored to his or her needs that is unavailable at the local school. Other students may require transportation between school and other locations where he or she receives therapies or services related to education and provided for in the special education plan. At their core, these transportation services allow the student to access an education, and that right is mandated by federal law. A lawsuit should not be required in order to educate students with disabilities in our schools. Time and again we see the State of California cutting critical services to people with disabilities as a means to balance the budget, says Paula Pearlman, the DRLCs Executive Director. These efforts do more harm than good, in both the short and long term. You must be in school to learn, and without teachers and transportation, we might as well just lock the schoolhouse doors. Its disheartening that California is targeting its students, and in particular, its students with disabilities, in these cuts, says Shawna L. Parks, Legal Director for the Disability Rights Legal Center. This approach to balancing the budget is both legally and morally wrong. ### Founded in 1975, the Disability Rights Legal Center is a nonprofit organization that champions the rights of people with disabilities through advocacy, education and litigation. For more information about the DRLC visit the Centers website at www.DisabilityRightsLegalCenter.org

    You might also like