05/05/2023
Huge updates this week for the disability community you can read more below
This was a huge week for Developmental Disability Funding and for Special Education! We were blown away by all those who joined us in raising our voices! You can read more below and f you want to help us raise the $10,000 we need to keep doing this work this month for Give to Lincoln Day click here. https://www.givetolincoln.com/nonprofits/arc-of-nebraska
1 Governor Pillen heard our voices about the Crisis of Care and is moving over $23 Million in DD Funding for Stabilization Payments next month! This was huge news and could mean thousands of extra dollars in direct care staff's pockets! Read more here. https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/pillen-pledges-funds-to-boost-staffing-of-nebraska-developmental-disability-caregivers/article_5d4db3cc-e9c9-11ed-99b0-076c508171ac.html
2 We gathered with hundreds of Nebraskans at the Capitol to celebrate and take Thank You Cards to the Governor. If you want to thank him send a note here https://governor.nebraska.gov/contact-form
3 We passed the budget bill LB 814 with an additional increase adding up to enough to help stabilize the DD Communities' most drastic needs.
4 We passed LB 705 with amendments through General File that have huge implications for Special Education, from $5000 Special Education Teacher Incentives to training its a comprehensive set of tools to address the Special Education Crisis. Here are some more details of what was included:
Extraordinary Increase in Special Education Expenditures Fund
Will help to address the issue that we see where particularly small districts struggle when they have sudden significant increases in Special Education needs. This will help to prevent that increased cost from detracting from proper Special Education supports.
Nebraska Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act
Special Education advocates have been calling for serious system reform in Nebraska. When we don’t have adequate staffing overloaded and under supported staff are unable to properly support students. Then when adverse interactions happen they have a harder time focusing on de-escalation and end up with more dangerous incidents. This would provide $5000 grants for Special Education Teachers. In Georgia, Maryland, Hawaii, and Michigan they have offered incentive bonuses ranging from $5,000- $15,000 and seen staffing shortages cut by half or more. This helps in several ways it ensures more retention of current Special Education Teachers, encourages teachers not currently using their Special Education Certification to switch, it helps to recruit new teachers, and it helps to build the long term pipeline.
Behavioral Cash Training Fund
We are excited to see that the behavioral awareness training shall be evidence-based training. Focused around de-escalation over the use of force. Behavioral awareness training for school employees including trauma as a source of behavioral concern, PBIS, Verbal intervention, and de-escalation techniques.
Expanded Mental Health Supports
We have seen the higher co-concurring impacts of those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities who also have Behavioral health issues. This would require each school district shall maintain or have access to a registry of local mental health resources and provide mental health training grants. This is an excellent resource for families and the community.
Nebraska Paraprofessional to Teacher Program
We have been advocating for many of these pieces but one of the things we realized after bill introduction was that we still are significantly failing to provide more supports to Paraprofessionals who are key to holding the Special Education System together. This is a helpful step to provide support for these invaluable public servants.
Option Enrollment
Our Option Enrollment system has a great many holes that are particularly harmful for students with disabilities. We are seeing more cases where federal law is being circumvented in a way that prevents students with disabilities from getting the support they need. Providing the data in this bill will be a good first step in remedying this situation. But we will need more action once we get this data.
Further Supports for Teachers and to Attract New Teachers
There are a number of smaller pieces of this bill that will help to provide increased support for teachers and more pathways to help us increase the number of teachers. As one of the states with the highest levels of shortages of Special Education Teachers over the last 20 years we are excited to see these steps.
All of this work requires funding though so if you can help us raise the $10,000 we need this month for Give to Lincoln click here. Thank you for your support! https://www.givetolincoln.com/nonprofits/arc-of-nebraska
