It wasn't so long ago that 1 in 5 children with special needs were kept out of public schools in this country. In many places they were shunted off to state institutions or subpar facilities, far away from others.
Not until the 1970s did Congress step in with groundbreaking legislation that required public schools to offer such children the same educational opportunities as others. By 1990, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act went further, ensuring that such children be educated in the "least restrictive environment," meaning their local school. To help with this enormously costly undertaking, the federal government pledged to fund 40 percent of the local schools' additional costs.
That never happened.
Instead, local schools ever since have struggled to meet those mandates with only a sliver of the promised federal funding and some state aid. In Minnesota, federal funding amounts to 8 percent and is projected to fall to 6.5 percent by 2020. This is in the face of special-ed costs that have doubled in the last decade and now stand at about $2.5 billion a year in Minnesota alone, ticking up about 5 percent annually.
The resulting gap has hurt everyone — special-needs students who don't always get what they need, schools that are forced to take money from other needs, and homeowners and landowners whose property taxes go up to help make up the difference.
Hearing politicians bemoan the special-ed funding gap has become a staple of campaigns. Many politicians over the years have righteously denounced the gap, yet it remains.
That's why it's heartening to see two Minnesota congressional newcomers from opposite sides of the aisle take this on in a serious way nearly as soon as they hit Washington. They have a special reason. Republican Rep. Pete Stauber, of northern Minnesota's Eighth District, and Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, of southern Minnesota's Second District, each are raising a special-needs child. They learned of their bond while chatting on a train bound for a freshman retreat and resolved on the spot to tackle this as a joint mission.
Stauber said he can't imagine a time when his 16-year-old son, Isaac, who has Down syndrome, would not have been welcomed with caring teachers and appropriate help at his local school. "That's been such a comfort," Stauber told an editorial writer. "But I've seen the struggle they have affording all this." He noted that in Bemidji schools alone, the gap costs $4.1 million a year.
