Special education is essential education
My younger daughter was born with a disabling genetic condition. Our family’s life is not what we had expected, planned or hoped for, but we are making it work. Our daughter is now 9. She will never be the smartest person in the room, but she is kind, empathetic, joyful and nurturing. I believe that she is a more conscientious, more moral person than many of the people who are smarter than her. She deserves to be a part of society as much as any of them do. Special education enables her to maximize her contribution to society now and throughout her life. It includes our family in community life. It establishes an expectation that everyone belongs.
It scares me to see federal support of special education erode with the dismantling of the Department of Education. It bothers me that New Hampshire provides the lowest percentage of the funds necessary for public education among all states. It scares me when my State Representative Dan McGuire suggests at a School Board meeting that we shouldn’t bother educating kids who, “will never learn to read.” It scares me further when my town’s Facebook page is consistently full of comments from people complaining about their tax burden and blaming it on our bare bones school budget and “unfunded mandates” — code for special education.
My daughter and my family belong and deserve to be a part of our community as much as anyone else. Anything less than championing public special education at the federal, state and local level sends a message that we are not valued and threatens every child’s right to a free and fair public education.