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The Rising
Cost of Autism Strains School Budgets
Fred Musante, Stratford Star, May 12, 2005
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Autism cases
have exploded over the last decade here, just as it has across
the state and the nation, putting a heavy burden on school
budgets that experts say may grow worse in years to come.
In Stratford, the number of children diagnosed with autism who
receive special education services has increased 400 percent
since 1996.
Although only 20 children in the school system this year have
autism, the cost for educating them may exceed $750,000.
The explosion in autism, which some are calling an epidemic, is
mirrored statewide and nationally. Statewide, the number of
autistic children educated at public expense has increased 325
percent since 1996, according to the state Department of
Education.
Special education experts caution that an undetermined amount of
the increase is due to the adoption of new diagnostic tools and
new definitions of autism, but they are still convinced that the
actual incidence of autism is rising fast.
A highly respected expert on autism at Yale University
disagreed, however. Ami J. Klin at the Yale Child Study Center
said there is no evidence that an epidemic is occurring. He said
other factors, such as better diagnoses, news reports and
greater awareness in general may account for the increase in
autism cases.
Whichever opinion turns out to be true, there is no doubt that
there has been a huge increase in the number of autistic
children being educated by specially trained teachers, aides,
and other professionals who command much higher salaries than
ordinary classroom teachers.
Autism is a neurological disorder that impedes a person's
ability to function practically and communicate with other
people. Klin said an autistic person may have high intelligence
and high verbal ability, but cannot function practically in the
world. Like the character in the film
"Rain Man," he may be a genius in some respects, but be unable
to pay for a hamburger.
The condition may range from severely disabling a person, to
making the individual just appear quirky or eccentric. It runs
in families, and occurs at a higher rate in boys than in girls.
The cause is unknown and there is no cure.
Federal law mandates that local school districts provide
appropriate education for all special education students,
including autistic children.
The federal and state governments provide aid to local schools
to help pay the expense, but their total aid falls far short of
the actual expense.
Governor M. Jodi Rell included a 38 percent increase amounting
to $25.5 million in the state's reimbursement for local special
education costs in her budget this year.
Figures mounting
The Stratford school district's Strategic School Profile shows
that in the 1996-97 school year, the first year statistics were
available, the town paid to educate only five children diagnosed
as autistic. That number climbed to 19 in 2000-01 and has
hovered around that level ever since.
In 2003-04, the last year for which figures are available, the
district educated 20 students with autism.
Angelo Vespe, Assistant Supt. for Pupil Services, said most of
those youngsters were educated in an in-district program at an
average cost of about $30,000 each. The cost of educating a
non-disabled student in Stratford is $9,200.
However, some of Stratford's autistic children were educated out
of the district in special programs at a cost of $60,000 each,
including transportation.
Vespe said he has heard that the prevalence of autistic children
educated at public expense was higher in Fairfield County than
in other parts of the state, and he had heard that one Gold
Coast school district paid $170,000 a year to educate a single
child.
The cost of out-of-district education is increasing at a faster
rate, 5 to 9 percent a year, than the cost of in-district
programs, which is increasing by about 3 percent a year. That is
putting pressure on Stratford to educate as many of autistic
children locally as possible, Vespe said.
Special education teachers are not considered qualified to teach
autistic children unless they have had two years of special
training in applied behavioral analysis, for which the state
doesn't even have a certification program developed yet.
Vespe said the minimum starting salary for a teacher with that
training is $46,000, compared with the $39,800 minimum salary
for a classroom teacher. And the specialists are in such short
supply that the district usually pays them a lot more than the
minimum, he said.
State statistics are based on the number reported in December of
each school year. The numbers reported for December 2004 are
still being analyzed and have not been released officially yet,
according to Roger Frant of the state Department of Education's
Bureau of Special Education.
However, the statistics show that the trend toward increasing
cases of autism is still continuing as before, he said.
Frant said in 1996-97, for kindergarten through grade 12,
Connecticut's 166 school districts were educating 661 autistic
children. The number rose to 1,375 in 2000-01 and to 2,154 in
2003-04, an average yearly increase of about 18.5 percent.
In 1996, autism in Connecticut occurred at a rate of 1.2 of
every 1,000 children, but by 2003 it had risen to 3.7 of every
1,000. Frant said it is projected to hit 4 - or 1 case for every
250 children - when the 2004 Strategic School Profile statistics
are released.
"That's pretty consistent with the national figures," he said.
"The numbers are still going up. It hasn't plateaued yet."
Frant said he believes part of the increase is due to greater
awareness and better diagnosis. Many undiagnosed autistic
children previously were included in the category of "multiple
disabilities," he said.
Stratford's Strategic School Profile does not support Frant's
contention, because there was no decline in the multiple
disabilities group corresponding to the increase in autism.
Instead, the multiple disabilities category also increased,
although at half the rate - 42 cases in 1996, 76 in 2000, and 83
in 2003.
One good development is that the total number of special
education students in Stratford has gone down over the same
period. There were 973 students with special education needs in
1996-97, but the number declined to 847 in 2000-01, and to 798
in 2003-04.
Vespe attributed the overall decline in special education
students to improvements in early identification, better support
programs and more effective remediation methods. Students learn
how to compensate for their disabilities and graduate out of
special education programs, he said.
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