Rick Allen: “I organized a couple of forums with educators who are expert in K through 12 in Maine and we had conversations. Some of…”

“I organized a couple of forums with educators who are expert in K through 12 in Maine and we had conversations. Some of them were principals. Some of them were businessmen and women. Some of them were university professors, and we talked about the problems in Maine with special education. Sixteen percent of our kids in Maine are identified as special ed. We take the obligation to give them a free and appropriate and excellent education very seriously, and, in fact, they are doing well. I mean, by the measures of the tests that we use to assess progress as students go through, our special ed kids are doing very, very well. We are proud of what they are doing. The cost of educating special ed students is really substantial. On average, it may be about twice, that is $12,000 as compared to $6,000 per year but, in fact, some students require very special services and one can be looking at $40,000 or $50,000 or sometimes even $100,000 a year to provide that free and appropriate education to someone with significant disabilities.”