Special education dominated the concerns of parents at last night's Howard County school board hearing on next year's proposed operating budget.
Parents also repeated concerns that were voiced at Wednesday's hearing -- no increase in class sizes; hire more psychologists; provide full-time guidance counselors at elementary schools, and increase the pool of teachers to staff schools with unexpectedly higher enrollments.
But the majority of the parents who attended the two-hour meeting at the Department of Education in Ellicott City spoke up for the special education program. Superintendent Michael E. Hickey proposes to increase funding for the program by $1.2 million for a total of $22.7 million.
The increase would pay for 23 additional teachers, 16 new assistants, three more speech pathologists, one therapist and a part-time nurse.
"Make inclusion work by providing adequate, trained staff and resources," said Sally Livingston Goldman, PTA president at Clemens Crossing Elementary School.
"The lack of adequate funding is creating a climate of mistrust and confrontation between the very people -- teachers and parents -- who should be allies, and hurting those that need help the most, the children."
The parents urged the board to provide enough teaching assistants and paid helpers to help learning- or physically disabled children who are placed in regular classrooms.
"It helps the regular kids in the classroom because it makes them able to learn to see another child in a walker . . . as an individual and not just as a problem," said Ann Breihan, who has a physically disabled child at Centennial Lane Elementary School.
Janet Oken, a parent, urged the board to increase substitute teachers' pay by $8, to $57 a day. "This year in particular, as surrounding counties have raised their rates, there has been a critical shortage of subs available in Howard County," she said.
At Swansfield Elementary School, there have been 10 instances when no substitute teachers "have been available and, therefore, classes have been left uncovered," Mrs. Oken said.
"This problem is not unique to our school. It exists countywide."
Diane Baerveldt asked the board for a pay increase for teachers of students who are confined to their homes. She said the at-home teachers should be paid for one hour of planning time for every six hours of instruction. Currently, they are paid for only two hours of planning time, no matter how long they teach the student.
Ms. Baerveldt said she teaches more than 10 subjects a week to five students.
She said her task is made more difficult because she has to coordinate assignments with 23 different teachers at five schools.
"As professional teachers, we, too, feel we should be compensated more adequately and be provided with one hour of planning time for every six hours of instruction," she said.
Virginia Charles, a parent, told the board that it may not be in the school system's best interest to approve a "lean and mean" budget. "Your job is to ask for everything that is needed to educate our children, and let the county executive or the County Council take the responsibility for axing our children's education," she said.