District 204 group pushing to maintain special needs funding
Illinois' first and largest special needs Parent Teacher Association may quickly shrink if state legislators approve a budget with threatened cuts to social and human services, officials say.
If the proposed "doomsday budget" from Gov. Pat Quinn goes through, as many as 16 agencies that help everyone from battered women and at-risk children to the homeless and severely disabled would struggle to keep their doors open or close completely when $10 million-plus in state aid is cut.
Quinn said he had a legal responsibility to propose the budget when lawmakers rejected a budget-balancing tax increase last month, even though he now says he won't make those cuts.
He said he doesn't support the proposed budget and will not allow such cuts to become a reality.
"I was always opposed to that," Quinn told reporters.
But Lori Price, president of the Indian Prairie Unit District 204 special needs PTA, said she fears families of the district's 4,000 special needs students could be left without vital services for their children as early as Wednesday.
If that happens, some parents, including Naperville's Karen Jacobsen, say they'll be forced to move out of state to find better care for their children. She says she'd rather see a slight tax increase than go through trying to sell her home and move.
Jacobsen and her husband pay more $20,000 annually for services to help their 9-year-old daughter overcome a severe learning disability caused by a brain injury she was born with. The family was in the process of being approved for a $1,300 monthly waiver to help defray those costs but that process has been delayed.
"It could be traumatic to uproot our daughter from the school, teachers and neighborhood that she knows but it is a very real possibility that we may need to leave Illinois to find a state that has what we need," she said. "It's a shame that legislators would even consider laying this burden at the feet of those who have the least and need the most."
Along with the waiver, one of the programs parents are concerned about losing is respite care reimbursement that pays for up to 15 hours of qualified day care a month for parents of children with special needs.
Aside from early intervention programs, Prairie Children Preschool parent Lorrie Willems said respite care is one of the most important services for parents in her situation.
Willems' 4-year-old daughter suffers from Angelman Syndrome, which causes her to be nonverbal and have the mental capacity of an infant. She also has a fear of the family car.
"That respite time is invaluable because it gives me time to go to the grocery store, do things we need to get done and spend time with my 10-year-old son," Willem said. "The attention and care needed for my daughter sometimes causes him to miss out so I try to spend as much one-on-one time with him as well."
Price said stories like these are prevalent across the state but she hopes support from her association will lend some credence to the necessity of the programs.
"As the first and largest special needs PTA in the state of Illinois, we hope to make an impact on lawmakers," she said.
The association met Thursday to discuss the details of the state budget and voted unanimously to oppose any cuts to human services.
"If a person can't walk, no one hesitates to put them in a wheelchair, but if a person can't speak we need to give them the tools they need to teach them how to speak," she said. "Without these services or tools, these children will not have the chance to be independent, productive adults and that will end up costing the state more money in the long run."
Price said PTA members have been making telephone calls to legislators, e-mailing state budget officials and writing letters to anyone who will read them. Aside from Republican state Rep. Darlene Senger attending their meetings, Price said form letters and a promise to pass her comments on to Quinn have been the only response.