Walker's Cuts to Education Hurting Special Education Students Hard.

Guess it’s NOT working…again? Spending on public education was cut more than any other state in the country, and with those cuts, dire consequences.

Edweek: Disability advocates are upset that some Wisconsin school districts want to be able to cut special education spending without losing losing federal funds.

Disability Rights Wisconsin said they just recently learned of a May letter asking for changes to the portion of the federal law requiring districts to keep spending on students with disabilities level from year to year. The clause is intended to buffer special education from the budget cycle and political whims.

Generally, school districts can only cut special education spending if there's an actual decrease in expenses.

Wisconsin school districts, noting the challenging economic times, asked for penalties to be waived … "This change will not reduce the services being provided to children with disabilities … But Jeffrey Spitzer-Resnick, managing attorney for Disability Rights Wisconsin, said his organization has already heard from parents and others who say services for their children have been reduced. If a student worked with an aide last school year for example, his or her new education plan erases the need for an aide … He said he understands that school districts are cash-strapped, but that doesn't mean they don't have to continue upholding the law. "When political decisions are made like the state of Wisconsin did, it has consequences," Mr. Spitzer-Resnick said. "You're still stuck with IDEA and maintenance of effort."

A private sector school has created this horror story:

Edweek: A private boarding school connected with the Hershey chocolate company says it was trying to protect other students when it denied admission to a Philadelphia-area teenager because he is HIV-positive.

The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit on behalf of the unidentified boy, claiming the Milton Hershey School for disadvantaged students violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Congress amended the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2008 to reaffirm that HIV is a qualified disability. 

One more thing:

Attorney Ronda Goldfein says her client requires no special accommodations. He is an honor-roll student and athlete who controls his HIV with medication that does not affect his school schedule, she said. Goldfein said the HIV discrimination cases she has seen in recent years usually boil down to one person's word against another.

"The reality is, people don't usually admit it like this," she said Thursday.