Local School Districts Can't Match WSVH Services
A new survey reveals that few local school districts have the resources
and services available to serve visually impaired students as well as
the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville, two legislators
said.
State Representative Wayne W. Wood (D-Janesville) and State Senator Timothy
Weeden (R-Beloit) oppose a proposal by State Superintendent John Benson
to close the school at the end of this academic year. The Legislature
is reviewing Benson's proposal.
Wood and Weeden sent a questionnaire to the superintendents of all 426
school districts in the state.
"We've had a response rate of over 45%, and with few exceptions,
most local school districts are not able to offer services equivalent
to those found at WSVH," Weeden stated.
"The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has recommended closing
WSVH, even though it admits students now at the school will not receive
better educational opportunities in their local district," Wood noted.
"We felt a survey was needed to determine just how prepared those
districts are to educate visually impaired students who often have other
severe handicaps."
The legislators asked about the number of visually impaired students
served by each district and tried to determine what types of services
and programs were currently available to educate these students.
Only four districts provide a wide range of comprehensive services to
visually handicapped students on a daily basis. Most districts offer itinerant
services, either through the local Cooperative Educational Service Agency
(CESA) or through teacher aids. That means visually impaired children
might receive specialized instruction for only an hour or two per week.
"Well over half of the administrators who responded indicated they
had visually impaired students in their school systems," said Wood.
"Yet, according to the survey, only a small percentage of districts
have specialized programs for these children."
Fewer than 7% of the districts reported offering Braille instruction.
About 13% provide orientation and mobility training. Only 4% have occupational
or physical therapy.
Many smaller school districts would be severely affected if students
currently at WSVH transferred back to their home districts. A number of
administrators said they could never provide the same educational opportunities
as WSVH.
"These districts could be financially devastated," Wood said.
"Under the current revenue caps, there is no way they could absorb
the costs of educating these students. They would have to cut existing
programs and services."
Weeden added, "Most of the children now attending WSVH have multiple
handicaps, not just vision problems. They require very specialized programming,
teachers, and equipment in order to receive an adequate education. It
is just not possible to replicate the educational opportunities now found
at WSVH in hundreds of school districts across this state."
Wood and Weeden renewed their call for further study, such as an in-depth
analysis by a Legislative Council study committee next spring.
"DPI acted without having all the facts," Wood said. "As
we continue to look into this issue, it becomes even more clear what a
valuable resource the state has in WSVH and what a mistake it would be
to close the school."
Posted November 4, 1997