The New York state Board of Regents, which oversees the state Education Department, is preparing its recommendations for State Aid to schools in the upcoming legislative session.
One of its priorities going forward is enhancing support for students with disabilities.
Regent Frances Wills, co-chair of the state’s subcommittee on State Aid, said that is imperative for post-secondary education and for providing a bridge for students between high school and their lives after.
“Programs have been funded in past years. However, additional needs must be met for colleges to provide appropriate support,” Wills said during a Regents meeting this week. “Funding is also an urgent need to assist schools in enacting the law requiring special services in high schools through age 22 when prescribed.”
The specifics on what those supports would be and how much funding would be requested for them to be enacted are not yet known. The Board of Regents is scheduled to finalize its proposals for the state budget in December.
For Courtney Liggett, a principal at Mary Cariola Center, providing more access and opportunities for students with disabilities entering college, the workforce, andlife in general after graduation would be a much-needed development.
Speaking at the center’s East Henrietta Road Campus, which serves middle school students with intellectual and complex disabilities, Liggett said that could also come from local communities.
“Having a more supported work environment for individuals with disabilities and seeing individuals with disabilities more in our communities at places of employment where they can work with support,” she said. “Seeing more of that I think would just benefit people in general and would open up some doors for those with disabilities.”
Of the possible improvements to post-secondary supports, Liggett points to a current dearth of day programs that provide structure, routine, work-based activities, and opportunities for people with disabilities to be in the community.
“We struggle to make sure that all of our students have an appropriate placement following post-graduation, and so that's something that I think our community could become more involved in,” she said.
“It could be just going to the movies or going bowling or doing little job tasks around the community,” she added. “But having access to those types of environments are needed. There just aren't enough, or we don't have the staffing that we need for them.”
This story is reported from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk.
