School district cuts adult special education budget by 85 percent

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Becoming Independent, the non-profit agency that provides education and job services for people with disabilities, is losing 85 percent of its funding for adult education programs in Sonoma Valley. The district reduced its contract for education programs for adults with developmental disabilities from $77,000 to $9,000.
“We expected cuts, but nothing this devastating,” said Carin Lawrence, chief of services for Becoming Independent. “This is a tremendous setback for the people we serve.”
The agency has been providing adult education services under an agreement with the school district for approximately 20 years, Lawrence said. About 60 Sonoma Valley adults are enrolled in the program.
The agency, with locations in Santa Rosa and at 355 West Napa Street, provides a range of services and job training for people with developmental disabilities. The total budget is about $900,000. It is funded primarily by the state, which trimmed the budget by 3 percent earlier this year and will likely cut another 7 percent. “They are chipping away at our resources and our ability to provide services,” Lawrence told the Sun.
The cut by the school district was made possible by a change in state policy, Lawrence said. Previously, the state reimbursed the district based on the number of students in the program, a formula known as Average Daily Attendance (ADA). The new rule removes that financial incentive and gives the district the flexibility to allocate money elsewhere. “We used to provide the bulk of the ADA for adult education,” she said. “They don’t care about that anymore.”
Lawrence acknowledged the cash-strapped district is being forced to make tough choices. “The Sonoma Valley school district has been a partner and good friend of Becoming Independent for years,” she said. “We’re all in this together.”
There is concern among disability service agencies that continuing budget cuts violate the Lanterman Act, which guarantees persons with developmental disabilities have the same legal rights as anyone else. “The State of California accepts a responsibility for persons with developmental disabilities and an obligation to them which it must discharge,” the law reads. Spending cuts now under consideration by the legislature, according to a Becoming Independent statement, “could reduce and/or eliminate rights and services promised to every resident of California with a developmental disability.”
Another worry is a budget trailer bill that mandates anyone with a developmental disability is considered retired once they are 50 years old. They would then be put into the senior services system.
The idea is contrary to Beginning Independent’s mission of vocational training, individualized education and job placement. Those workers would lose the rewards of a productive job, both monetarily and emotionally, and would not benefit from the more passive setting of a senior center. “It would take them out of the community-based experience,” Lawrence said.
To protest the budget cuts, and the erosion of equal access to school and services, Becoming Independent organized a July 15 rally in Santa Rosa. More than 250 people with disabilities, and the staff and families who support them, assembled at the State Building. Aides to Senator Pat Wiggins, Assembly Member Noreen Evans and Assembly Member Wes Chesbro addressed the crowd, as did individuals relating how the cuts may affect their jobs, health and their ability to live independently.
The rally drew more than 300 people, including clients of other programs serving people with developmental disabilities including North Bay Industries, Old Adobe Developmental Services, Oaks of Hebron, Redwood Empire Industries, United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay, and Napa Valley Support.
Becoming Independent, which won the prestigious Jefferson Award for public service this year, provides services to some 1,200 men and women in Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties. Its philosophy is to use the community as a classroom, Lawrence said – to teach skills like shopping and taking the bus is to, “Get our folks used to the community, and the community accepting of our folks.”
It was particularly gratifying for her to see at the downtown rally, “A group of people with disabilities coming together and speaking on behalf of their rights.” She said the scene “was one of the highlights of my career.”