Proposals to Reign in Abuses by Private Special Education ...

The cost per child in special ed preschools in New York is higher than in other states.

In the midst of the crisis in public education budgets the costs of special education have been subjected to scrutiny, and private contractors who provide services for children with disabilities should be no exception.

by David M. Halbfinger -

The?New York State Education Department?said Friday that it wanted to create a unit to oversee contractors in its program for disabled preschoolers, train the contractors about their financial responsibilities and subject them to rigorous audits on a regular basis.

The department was responding to reports of soaring costs and brazen fraud in the $2 billion program for children in?special-education?prekindergarten.

It also said it was studying ways to eliminate financial incentives that encourage contractors to inflate or even overstate their expenses ? costs that are then reimbursed by the state and local governments.

The special-education preschool system serves about 60,000 children a year and is far more expensive, per child, in New York than in other states,?The New York Times?reported in June. Yearly bills exceed $200,000 a child in some cases. New York City?s spending has nearly doubled in just six years.

Unlike other states, New York relies almost entirely on private contractors to deliver services to 3- to 5-year-olds with physical, learning, developmental and other disabilities. One factor in the rising costs, The Times reported, is lax oversight, which has been exploited by some of those contractors, nonprofit and for-profit companies alike.

Audits released this summer by the state comptroller have highlighted contractors who took millions of dollars from the program by giving relatives no-show jobs or reimbursing themselves for things like luxury cars, out-of-state homes and other personal expenses. Two companies have been shut down in conjunction with the audits, and at least four contractors have been charged criminally.

In a memorandum, dated Thursday, to a committee of the State Board of Regents, the executive deputy commissioner of the Education Department, Valerie Grey, conceded that the department was failing to scrutinize contractors adequately, but attributed this to a shortage of workers. An internal review, Ms. Grey wrote, ?concluded that a significant number of staff needed to be added to perform baseline program oversight duties.?

Read more at?New York State to Create Unit to Oversee Special Education Contractors.

[Via The New York Times]

Tags: disabilities, disabled preschoolers, kids with disabiltiies, living with disabilities, New York State Education Department, parenting and disabilities, preschool system, special ed preschools, special ed services, special education, special-education costs

Source: http://specialedpost.com/2012/09/09/soaring-costs-for-special-education-contractors-2/

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