On Friday, October 24th, Governor Sarah Palin offered her plan for funding students with disabilities. All Special Needs students would have the choice to attend private or parochial schools, funded by the state first with federal financing to come later (Zernike, 2008).
She also pledged to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal government presently pays about 17 percent of the cost of providing a “free and appropriate public education;” IDEA requires the government to pay 40 percent. These costs at present levels can account for 50% of the budget of a school district (Zernike, 2008).
The McCain campaign says that this program would be exempt from the spending freeze, and that it can be paid for by cutting earmarks (although that money has been pledged elsewhere) (Zernike, 2008).
IDEA presently serves seven million children, costing $12 billion a year. The law mandates the education and necessary therapies to support the a child with a disability (Kronholz, 2008).
Model
The McCain-Palin campaign website states that they will use the Florida McKay scholarship as their model to allow full school choice for parents of students with disabilities, and that this proposal carries no cost beyond IDEA funding. Federal funds would travel with the child in the form of vouchers to allow attendance to public schools (McCain-Palin, 2008).
Problems
However, these McKay scholarships have not been without difficulties. Some argue that the funds create motivation for parents to seek disability diagnoses for their child (and demographic evidence indicates this may be happening presently). Also, in order for a child to receive a McKay voucher, he must first be enrolled a year in a public school; this creates difficulties in offering early intervention (Mead, 2008)
Minimal outcome information supports this program (Mead, 2008); the data supporting the McKay scholarship effectiveness has major statistical difficulties (Yun, 2008).
Expense
Palin’s plan would cost 15 billion next year in additional federal spending (Berger, 2008). This is nearly as much as Obama’s proposed 18 billion for early education and K-12 School reform, and seems inconsistent with the fiscal restraint otherwise advocated by the McCain campaign (Mead, 2008).
Political Will
The plan is a departure from the overall mien of the McCain campaign; while McCain has a strong record of supporting people with disabilities, he has not previously supported increased funding for IDEA, voting against the full funding of the program in 2004 (U.S. Senate, 2004).
In addition, in all likelihood, a McCain-Palin administration would still face a House and Senate controlled by the Democratic Party, which would most likely block the plan, as school vouchers have traditionally been favored by Republicans and opposed by Democrats.
Analysis
One week ago, Obama had planned to spend far more federal funds than McCain had promised, as Obama’s campaign had promised to fully fund IDEA. With Palin’s new plan, the stakes have been raised: both campaigns have promised to fully fund IDEA, and vouchers for school choice have been offered.
Obama's plan (discussed in autismaspergerssyndrome.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_politics_of_autism) differs from Palin's in that, while he supports full funding of IDEA, he does not promise full funding by next year. He has not defined the time schedule he would adopt for full funding, but, as stated above, $18 billion would cover his entire education plan, to be paid for by reducing NASA's budget and auctioning off federally owned properties (Obama for America, 2008).
Sara Mead, in her article for the New America Foundation, points out that if IDEA is fully funded, a Free and Appropriate Public Education would entail a private school education if the public school cannot provide services; thousands of students are presently enrolled in private schools at taxpayer expense under IDEA. Therefore, a system of vouchers is unnecessary (Mead, 2008).
Sarah Palin’s plan for Special Needs children is ambitious and well-intentioned. However, due to its cost, the lack of research support for its model, and the political and economic conditions a McCain-Palin administration would face, the potential for her plan to become a reality is unlikely.
Sources:
McCain-Palin 2008. (2008). The McCain-Palin Commitment to Children with Special Needs, [Press Release]. McCain-Palin 2008. Available: http://www.johnmccain.com [Accessed 2008, October 25].
Berger, M. (2008, October 24). Palin Advocates For Special Needs Funds. msnbc.com. Available: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com [2008, October 25].
Kronholz, J. (2008, September 8). Palin's Pitch to Parents of Disabled Raises Some Doubts. Wall Street Journal.
Mead, S. (2008, October 24). What's Missing from Sarah Palin's Special Education Speech? Early Education. New America Foundation. Available: http://www.newamerica.net/blog/early-ed-watch/2008/whats-missing-sarah-palins-special-education-speech-early-education-7933 [2008, October 25].
Obama for America (2008). Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Supporting Americans with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Obama for America. Available: www.barackobama.com [Accessed 2008, October 18].
U.S. Senate, (2004). US Senate Roll Call Votes 108th Congress - 1st Session. United States Senate. Available: http://www.senate.gov/legislative [Accessed 2008, October 25].
Yun, J. T. (2008, May 22). Review of The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement. Manhattan Institute on Policy Research. Available: http://epicpolicy.org/thinktank [2008, October 25].
Zernike, K. (2008, October 24). Palin Promises Choice for Disabled Students. New York Times.
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