Hudson Valley districts to Cuomo: Veto special-ed bill

Forty-eight school districts in Westchester, Rockland and Dutchess counties have sent a message to Gov. Andrew Cuomo urging him to veto the special education placement bill, a bill that requires that a student's "home environment and family background" be considered in special-education placements.

School district officials say the bill could increase the number of students attending private school on the taxpayer's dime, at the cost of about $60,000 per kid. Hudson Valley educators say Cuomo's decision on the bill will test his ability to deliver on a promise of relief from state-mandated costs in education.

South Orangetown Schools Superintendent Kenneth Mitchell estimated the bill could raise the tax levy 1 percent in his district alone.

"Just imagine how this will affect districts already struggling with the cap?" Mitchell said, referring to the state cap on local tax increases.

Catholic and Jewish groups pushed for the new requirement, saying students from religious families could feel more comfortable in schools where rules conform to their beliefs.

East Ramapo School Board president Daniel Schwartz said he has heard stories from Hasidic families about students who were misevaluated because of unfamiliarity with the community's religious traditions.

The East Ramapo School Board was the only one in Rockland that did not pass a resolution calling for a veto. The community includes a large Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish community. Members of that community now constitute a majority of the school board.

"Looking at this from the perspective of trying to get the children the best education, I don't understand why anyone would be opposed to this," Schwartz said.

Some East Ramapo community members disagree with the board. A petition started by East Ramapo resident Steven White has garnered more than 1,300 signatures this week.

Cuomo has until Aug. 1 to decide whether to veto the bill or not. As the deadline approaches, interested groups are ratcheting up the pressure on the governor's office.

Mitchell, a member of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents, analyzed the potential cost of the bill by surveying the region's districts. He passed his findings along to the governor's office.

His report estimates that, if 10 percent of the special-education students in the nine districts in Rockland County were to gain placement in private special-needs schools, the bill would cost about $40 million in Rockland County alone.

"Parents are given this enormous latitude to place students unilaterally in private schools; all that does is create a gigantic unfunded cost for school districts," said Louis Wool, president of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superitendents.