Parents, educators call for more tax credit support in Pa.
By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
WILLOW GROVE — Advocates for special education testified at the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee Hearing Aug. 20 to raise awareness about the archdiocesan schools of special education and learning disability programs and the resources that fund them.
Daniel and Donna Moser testified about how their 6-year-old Becky and her special needs peers are encouraged by their educators to “shoot for the moon” at Our Lady of Confidence Day School (OLC), an archdiocesan school on the campus of St. David Parish.
“When we first started looking for an appropriate kindergarten for Becky, we were struck by the limited number of choices,” Daniel Moser said at the hearing held in the parish hall of St. David Church, Willow Grove and co-chaired by Rep. Thomas Murt (R-Phila.-Mont.).
“We wanted a place where Becky could learn and grow as a whole person, where her weaknesses would be addressed but her strengths would be recognized,” he added. Becky has been diagnosed with mental retardation, speech apraxia, attention deficit disorder and epilepsy.
Because of OLC, the bar has been raised for Becky, Moser said. She now knows how to read simple words, count to 15, look her parents in the eye when they talk to her, follow directions, ask for help and take a deep breath when she is frustrated — to name just a few things she could not achieve on her own before enrolling in the school.
And she likes it there.
“She just can’t wait to go to school,” Moser said. “She runs down the driveway to the yellow school bus that picks her up. If there’s a day off for teachers’ conferences, she literally cries that she doesn’t get to go to school that day.”
Moser implored businesses and corporations to make a great investment by supporting Catholic special education.
Our Lady of Confidence School has two campuses. Children between the ages of 4 and 15 attend the St. David site. Those who are 16 to 21 years old attend classes at the Cardinal Dougherty High School campus in Northeast Philadelphia.
The school’s principal, Sister Judith Moeller of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also testified. “Our program is rooted in Gospel love, while embracing the value of life,” she said. “We are strongly committed to the development of the whole child as we prepare them for the path of independence.”
Ellen Wedemeyer, the Archdiocese’s assistant superintendent for special education, testified about the necessity of special education schools and funding needs.
She said enrollment in the archdiocesan learning disabilities programs has increased 20 percent at the elementary level since last year and that families of special needs students in the Archdiocese benefit from tuition assistance through the state’s EITC (Educational Improvement Tax Credit) program.
“As the Catholic schools become more educated concerning special education, more students can be identified and serviced,” Wedemeyer said. She suspects some students with special needs, especially at the middle school and high school level, are labeled as having behavior issues, instead of being tested for having a special need.
She cited as an example a high school freshman she once helped who had an atrocious conduct record. When he worked directly with her, Wedemeyer found the student to be kind and cooperative, and suffering from a serious learning disability. She asked him about his poor conduct in the classroom. He told her: “I would rather have my friends think that I am bad than know that I am stupid.”
“More and more” of the 20 archdiocesan high schools are seeing a need to reach out to students whose learning needs are not being met, Wedemeyer said. “This can only result in more students being identified, more students being helped and less students failing and ultimately leaving a high school within the Archdiocese.”
Jack Killen, senior vice president of Sovereign Bank, president of the Sovereign Bank Foundation and chair of the archdiocesan special education advisory committee, also testified. He spoke of Sovereign as a supplier of grants to non-profit organizations, with a heavy emphasis on educational programs, as well as its participation in the EITC program. Killen also spoke of the special education advisory committee’s work, which includes increasing sustainable funding sources, improving scholarship funding sources as well as seeking out and meeting with legislative leaders on state funding for special needs scholarships.
Andrew T. LeFevre, executive director of the REACH (Road to Educational Achievement through Choice) Alliance & REACH Foundation in Harrisburg, gave the concluding testimony. He said that in 2004-05, nearly 300,000 youths — or about one out of every 20 school-aged children in the commonwealth — were identified as special-needs students in Pennsylvania. In addition, the percentage of children age 3 and below who received early intervention services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was 3.08 percent. That figure, LeFevre said, ranked Pennsylvania in the top 10 in that category and indicated that the problem is likely to increase in future years.
The Archdiocese operates five schools of special education and provides numerous programs for students with learning disabilities at the elementary and high school levels.
For more information, contact REACH at (717) 238-1878 or BLOCS at (215) 587-0590. Visit the Web site www.paschoolchoice.org., or at www.blocs.org.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.
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