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Mfreddy,
I don’t live in NH, but I couldn’t read this thread without saying, as the mother of a son with autism, I’m so sorry that your question was met with such ignorant and discriminatory comments. It’s heartbreaking that some people can be so hateful towards our precious children.
For what it’s worth, from what I know of that area from family I have in the North Shore and in south NH, I think Toxic Waltz is spot on.
I hope you’re able to find a safe and welcoming place for your family and wish you all the best!
Let’s do some math, assuming the numbers provided are accurate which they likely are not. $75,000. Now we know the feds and state pay a little of that but let’s say for the sake of argument that the local district is going to bear that cost entirely. Let’s use my district. SAU 4. My town of Bristol shoulders 33% of the district budget. So $25,000. When I do the math, our tax rate jumps one penny. For my house, that’s $2 a year. Now we know the number is actually less than that because there is some offsetting payments.
What the math tells me is that some people are just a**holes.
Let’s do some math, assuming the numbers provided are accurate which they likely are not. $75,000. Now we know the feds and state pay a little of that but let’s say for the sake of argument that the local district is going to bear that cost entirely. Let’s use my district. SAU 4. My town of Bristol shoulders 33% of the district budget. So $25,000. When I do the math, our tax rate jumps one penny. For my house, that’s $2 a year. Now we know the number is actually less than that because there is some offsetting payments.
What the math tells me is that some people are just a**holes.
Really?? Well why don't you post what town YOU live in and invite families with special needs children to move to YOUR town then? And it's one thing to have ONE special needs child using a town's school, but having multiple children with special needs in the school system adds up quickly. In Rochester, those students average a $90K cost each. But at some point, additional special ed teachers would have to be hired if even more students became enrolled. And every child has unique needs.
The shortfalls are due to an influx of students moving to Rochester who have out-of-district placements and associated transportation needs built into their individualized education program (IEP), according to Superintendent Kyle Repucci.
Ten such students moved into the district in August, followed by one in September, three students in October, and another anticipated student in December, for a total of 15 new students, district Business Administrator Linda Bartlett informed School Board members in November.
Really?? Well why don't you post what town YOU live in and invite families with special needs children to move to YOUR town then? And it's one thing to have ONE special needs child using a town's school, but having multiple children with special needs in the school system adds up quickly. In Rochester, those students average a $90K cost each. But at some point, additional special ed teachers would have to be hired if even more students became enrolled. And every child has unique needs.
I guess you didn’t see where I did post my district and town. People are gonna move where they move. Sometimes that’s for specific resources and sometimes for other reasons. Regardless, children need to be educated. Shaming parents for their special needs children is about as low as it gets. Sorry if that hits too close to home for you.
Really?? Well why don't you post what town YOU live in and invite families with special needs children to move to YOUR town then? And it's one thing to have ONE special needs child using a town's school, but having multiple children with special needs in the school system adds up quickly. In Rochester, those students average a $90K cost each. But at some point, additional special ed teachers would have to be hired if even more students became enrolled. And every child has unique needs.
While it's certainly true that every child has unique needs, those needs can usually be met with shared resources, so it's much more cost effective to have more than one child using those resources. Having only one child would drive up the per pupil cost, so the notion that it would be better to spread these kids out across multiple town districts could and likely would be far more costly overall. This is why places with small town districts often use out of district placements when a child needs services they can't provide. They're pooling their resources or outsourcing, however you want to look at it.
So in my son's case, he spends most of his time in the general education setting. He does receive special education services from a resource teacher and a speech therapist, but he only uses a fraction of their time. His case has some input from an occupational therapist and an autism specialist, but he doesn't usually get direct services from them and utilizes very little of their time. It would be absurd if all of these people were on staff just for him which thankfully they are not. When he was younger, he required more intensive support and was in a self contained class. These classes were not available in all the schools because that wouldn't have made financial sense, so he went to a school that was not our base school but was in our district. If we had been where my family is in other states up north, he likely would have had an out of district placement.
As far as NH goes, if the numbers that have been presented in these threads are correct, NH local school districts are spending an enormous amount of money relative to other parts of the country on students who require special education services. That said, a quick Google search tells me they are getting reimbursement for some of those expenses from the state and federal government and have even had surpluses.
That said, any school district claiming to need the kind of money presented here to educate children who require special education but then are also claiming to not have enough money should be setting off alarm bells. Something is either wrong with the system or people are being careless with the money or worse. Again if these numbers are accurate, focusing on the children needing special education services seems like a distraction from the real issue which could be very convenient for the powers that be who might be trying to divert attention from their own incompetence or malfeasance. Pitting people against each other and creating scapegoats is a common tactic used by people in power. Anyway, if I were concerned about where my tax dollars were going in this situation, I'd be at least asking for an audit. It sounds like the problem is likely with the adults in charge and not the children.
And as with all education, special education is pay me now or pay me later, and it's almost always cheaper to pay now. These kids, all of them, are part of society and local communities. The better they're educated and supported when they're young, the better off they'll be as adults and the less they'll cost taxpayers in the end. That, and it's just the right thing to do.
The cost of Special Ed funding and all school funding should be distributed more evenly among all residents and taxpayers of NH. That is what the Conval school lawsuit is about - the state paying more to school districts. Any raise in property taxes is going to upset some people while others could care less. Current use has a substantially larger impact on raising your tax bill than special needs kids or elderly exemptions.
People! Massachusetts is right next door. They love to throw money at education without a second thought. Problem solved.
^^^ Exactly! Most of the reason that people want to move to NH is for the LOWER TAX BURDEN. But if a person or family needs or wants more of a taxpayer support system, they really ought to move to a state like MA which has much more robust tax income stream.
Massachusetts is one of the most successful and highly functioning states in the US. And it's why there was Romneycare in place long before Obamacare. And in fact, I hear that Romneycare was a better system for MA residents than Obamacare. Part of that was because before Romneycare, most MA employers already offered reasonably priced insurance coverage to their employees.
Again, there is no such thing as a free lunch, if you aren't paying for it, it's because others have to. The math is very simple. Already outsiders have caused property taxes in southern MA to skyrocket for longtime NH residents. And it's because of outsiders from MA wanting amenities like curbside garbage pickup. And no, more housing built in these towns don't create more of a positive income stream for their towns when their additional children need more classroom space. More added townspeople mean greater infrastructure needs. More roads to be plowed during our long winters, more fire and police support for those new housing developments. And bye-bye cheaper life in the country!
The OP said early on that MA is not an option because they need to be near the family they have in NH where her husband is from.
It is entirely possible that I can't read a map. Looking at the distance between Mass and New Hampshire(especially with the two towns the OP is looking at), I hardly think we are talking multiple day road trips between the two states.
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