With all the pressure on school budgets this year, one might conclude that this is going to be a bad year for sacred cows. With proposed expenditures barely where they need to be to achieve what has come to be called “same-service” levels, not much is off the table when the discussion turns to cutting costs. Yet one of the fastest growing components of education budgets across the state — Newtown included — is special education. Spending for special education in Connecticut has increased more than $700 million over the past decade, reflecting a 74 percent increase, according to the State Department of Education. Other school expenses grew by 45 percent.

While school districts can cut most accounts in their budgets, rules governing the expenditure of federal education funds require states and local districts to spend at least the same amount on special education from year to year or lose federal funding. So if the school district cannot cut those funds, the next best thing is to ensure that those funds are not wasted. To that end, a Planning and Placement Team (PPT) Task Force, consisting of school administrators, teachers, and counselors, has spent the last eight months assessing the effectiveness of PPT meetings with parents and students in addressing the needs and expectations of all those involved in local special education programs.

With the help of parent and student surveys, the task force found that about 90 percent of both groups reported satisfaction and a positive response to PPT sessions, which is encouraging given frustrations voiced in the past about the district’s response to the concerns and requested services by parents of special education students. The surveys, along with observations and comments solicited from educators involved in the process, showed that little considerations can make a big difference in the overall effectiveness of PPT sessions. Things like showing up to meetings on time, not speaking in jargon, being prepared and organized, wearing name tags, and sharing information can make the process more respectful, less adversarial, and ultimately of far greater use to teachers, parents, and students.

Special education is often used as an emblem for all that is difficult and frustrating about public education. It costs money that districts don’t have to spend. It requires time and patience, which are often in short supply as well. Its great successes are measured only incrementally. It earns no one any awards and rarely any thanks. But more than almost any other activity that takes place in our schools, it affirms and enhances lives that might otherwise be overlooked in the rush to achievement. And in times like these, there is no asset — especially a young life — that we can afford to overlook.