Disability Rights updates

News Announcement: State Superintendent of Public Instruction to Release Funding for Maintaining Mental Health Services, Despite Governor’s Veto

On October 29, 2010, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell, announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) would be releasing and continuing to allocate the $76 million in available reserved federal IDEA funds to maintain educationally related mental health services, despite Governor Schwarzanegger’s “suspension” of the AB 3632 mandate for such services on October 8, 2010

In taking this action, Mr. O’Connell stated that “Governor Schwarzanegger’s action to eliminate funding for severely disabled students’ mental health services is cruel to vulnerable children and is yet another slap in the face to public schools that have been underfunded by $21 billion over the last three budget years. I refuse to let the Governor’s misguided action prevent severely disabled students from getting the mental health care they need from qualified providers.” He went on to state that the Governor’s action did not “override federal law” and that school districts were still obligated to implement IEPs for students and provide educationally related mental health services, but that the schools lacked the expertise to do so. See California Department of Education: News Release, October 29, 2010; http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr10/yr10rel122.asp CDE has previously issued a memorandum to remind school districts and SELPAs of their duty to fund and provide educationally mandated mental health services when a non-educational agency (like the Department of Mental Health) refuses to do so. The disbursement of these reserved funds is not a long-term solution to the current crisis, but it will ensure that disabled students continue to get the mental health services they need and restore some stability to the system while the Senate and Assembly attempt to restore funding.

Stay informed and up-to-date on this important topic on our blog at www.a2zeducationaladvocates.blogspot.com

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