Illinois School for the Deaf and the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired to charge fees for non-academic services | Jan 18, 2012

By CHRIS WETTERICH | GateHouse News Service | Jan 18, 2012

ISD, ISVI, to charge fees for non-academic services

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a bill that allows the Illinois School for the Deaf and the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired to charge fees for non-academic services, such as sports, that in some cases used to be free.

Senate Bill 274 revises earlier legislation that required a financial analysis for each student attending the schools, both of which are in Jacksonville, and an analysis of the cost of non-education-related services.

Each parent of a student would have had to disclose his or her income to the state and prove it. Parents of children who live at one of the schools were to have been charged for room and board based upon a sliding scale determined by income.

That legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, and Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, was determined to run afoul of federal law. Feigenholtz has been a staunch opponent of state institutions, instead of community-based entities, for children with special needs.

There was also talk in the Quinn administration in 2011 of closing the two schools, a discussion described by officials as "just a budget exercise."

Federal law guarantees students in special education a free and appropriate education, said Mary Lauderdale, the superintendent of both schools.

“As the Department of Human Services looked at the bill, it didn’t comply with the individuals with disabilities act,” she said. “This puts that bill in compliance and calls for basic registration and fees.”

The School for the Deaf has traditionally imposed certain fees. An athletic fee is being added. Fees have not been charged at the School for the Visually Impaired.

The new fees vary, depending on the student’s participation in activities, and would max out at around $200 for athletes, Lauderdale said.

Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, the House sponsor, said DHS initiated the bill.

“They found there are limits to what they can charge people based on federal law,” he said. “That was an initiative of the agency.”

Parents have not complained about the cost, Lauderdale said, adding that families below the poverty line do not have to pay any fees.

“They see the importance of the school,” Lauderdale said. “They’ve gotten a pretty good bargain up until now. We are having no problem collecting those fees.”

The fees also allow the schools to make the case that families are paying something for the services they are getting. There is no estimate of how much money will be raised by the fees, Lauderdale said.

“Something is better than nothing,” she said. “We want to be as much like a regular school as possible.”

Chris Wetterich can be reached at (217) 788-1523.

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