Special education costs are out of control.
What is the answer? We don’t know, but year after year we see one town after another struggle to absorb a massive increase in this area.
Property taxes go up, which impacts low-income homeowners especially and all of us to some degree.
Schools struggle to fund other priorities, like academic programs and building projects.
Sometimes the cause is one student with extraordinary needs, as was the case in Damariscotta a few years ago. Sometimes it is a combination of factors, as in Nobleboro this year.
All towns can do is hope the needs are not as great the next year.
There is a sense of helplessness around this issue, because when anyone questions the cost, the answer is always the same: “mandates.” Or: “We have no choice.”
We would wager that many people – taxpayers, voters – hesitate to speak up at all, for fear others will criticize them as uncaring.
We believe students of all abilities deserve the opportunity to reach their full potential – but how do we provide this opportunity without bankrupting our towns?
Many legislative candidates want the state to fund a larger share of educational costs, and it should. This could limit the wild fluctuation some towns see in special education expenses.
However, state government can only absorb so much without higher taxes, and we already have fairly high income taxes in comparison to other states.
We want to hear more from our legislators and legislative candidates about how they propose to address this issue.
