I've been reading my county's school budget document - insert joke about how I must have time on my hands - and it's not pretty. Because of the recession, our school district is facing a declining budget for the third year in a row. I imagine most school districts across the country are facing the same issues, especially as the Obama stimulus money runs out, and administrators will make some tough choices that could be detrimental to our kids.
So. Let's be proactive, and think about how we can use technology and the principles of universal design for learning to cut costs without cutting quality.
1. Exploit free resources.
This might seem obvious, but with all the free content available on the Internet, why would schools pay for it? An amazing example of this is the Khan Academy (see my earlier post: Thinking out of the (Classroom) Box.
Furthermore, take advantage of what special ed needs parents are willing to provide. Some schools seem reluctant to "change policy" or permit "non school professionals" from entering the classroom. Does the child have a private ABA therapist who wants to attend in the classroom? Let them in!! Have the parents bought an AAC on their own? Support the inclusion of the device. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?
2. Exploit open source materials.
"Open source" is a term used to describe software programs that are available at no cost, under (generally) flexible licensing terms. The Linux platform is entirely open source, as well as some commonly used applications (Firefox, etc.) Even with educational discounts, software packages like Microsoft Office add up fast. Schools: cut your IT budgets by switching to open source platforms, and then divert the saved money into services for the kids.
3.Use IDEA funds in ways that help special needs kids AND general ed kids.
IDEA, the statute mandating education for kids with disabilities, is not only a civil rights statute, but is a funding statute as well. Now, granted, it's never been fully funded and probably never will. However, schools receiving IDEA funds should think about how to use the funds to (a) benefit the special ed kids and, if possible, (b) benefit the general curriculum as well. This is totally permissible under the language of the IDEA.
Example: perhaps there's a kiddo with a visual processing disorder, or, maybe an issue with written expression. The school obtains resources to help him with written assignments - traditional lined paper, raised paper, chart paper on the wall, a variety of sizes of pens and markers. Well, these options can be used by the rest of the class as well. All students can benefit from the variety of expressive means. And the school didn't have to dip into the general fund. (For more info on this approach, check out this really informative article: Include.Belong.Learn.)
4. Partner with parents to brainstorm cost-effective solutions.
If a child had an executive functioning disorder, a common solution in higher grades may be to provide that child with a note taker, so that the child could concentrate on listening to oral instruction, and still have a set of notes to review later that day. Or perhaps the child needs a tutor to go over his notes with him, because the best way he learns is by writing plus hearing it explained multiple times. I would imagine that a notetaker - all day, every day, for the full school year - adds up. (Let's suppose $5/hour, 6 hours a day, 180 school days a year: that's $5,400.) Similar costs for a tutor, who would have a higher hourly rate.
Now picture that the student is given a LiveScribe pen by the school district, in place of the notetaker or tutor. (LiveScribe pens work on special paper, and what they do is link audio recording to your actual notes so that you can play back the recording of a lecture as you read your notes by tapping on your notes. Pretty cool. LiveScribe site. A LiveScribe pen, plus 20 notebooks of the special paper used with it, would be $200. Seems to me like we could save significant amounts of money by applying the new technologies out there right now to the educational context.
A couple of provisos:
(a) I think that these solutions need to have broad buy-in. I think it would be a bad move for schools to insist on any technology that parents' didn't agree to, and vice versa. As the IDEA intended, assistive technology is part of a jointly-agreed to IEP by the IEP team, which includes teachers AND parents.
(b) Technology can't replace teachers, and technology can't solve the problem of 30 first graders in the same room. But it can help create individualized learning environments for kids and stretch lean budgets.
Any other ideas? Post in the comments!
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