CDS changes proposed to come sooner than expected -- family input needed 3/24

[Alan Cobo-Lewis]

Dear Friends of Mainers with Disabilities,

Please see action alert below from Maine Parent Federation

thank you

----- Original Message -----

Family Voice Needed

Call to Action - Family Voice Needed

Proposed Changes to Child Developmental Services (CDS)

Will Greatly Impact Children with Special Needs Ages 0-5

Maine’s Department of Education (MDOE) has proposed legislation which will greatly impact services delivered by CDS. The proposal lacks sufficient detail, does not address significant concerns of stakeholders, and proposes a timeline that could be devastating for children, families, providers, schools, and taxpayers.

What does the proposal do?

The proposed legislation by MDOE would end CDS’s oversight of a Free & Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and the related services for children ages 3-5 and move both to the local School Administrative Unit (SAU) as of July, 1 2023.

How will this impact your family?

This aggressive timeline does not sufficiently address the impact on children and families. It could mean less parental choice in where and how your child receives services, a compromised Least Restrictive Environment (the ability for your child to receive their services within their community with their typically developing peers), and cause confusing transitions between CDS and local SAU’s. 

There are also no processes for contracting with childcare providers or Head Start centers. This could make obtaining childcare close to home or work challenging.

 

Finally, there is no detailed plan for SAU readiness which include funding, staffing or transportation. Ensuring that SAUs are ready and able to provide quality services which are appropriate and available is important.

What can you do?

Your voice is critical and time is not on our side. A public hearing will be held next Wednesday, March 24. Please contact your Senators, Representatives and the Educational and Cultural Affairs Committee; when emailing the committee please include Committee Clerk, Elias Murphy.

Your statement does not have to be detailed. Speak to how the changes will impact your family and ask them to slow the process down to explore other options to meet the needs of children without doing harm.

Please direct questions to Carrie Woodcock. at cwoo...@mpf.org

Maine Parent Federation| www.mpf.org

Maine Parent Federation, Inc. | PO Box 2067, Augusta, ME 04338 207-588-1933

[Maine Disability Alerts]

More info about how to testify about CDS draft legislation (with the draft legislation attached to this alert):

From the Education Committee's "interested parties" listserv:

Dear Interested Parties:

 

Over the past few weeks, the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs engaged in extensive discussions regarding the future of the Child Development Services System and a proposal submitted by the Department of Education pursuant to LD 255, Resolve, Directing the Department of Education To Develop a Plan for the Provision of Early Intervention Services and LD 386, Resolve, Directing the Department of Education To Establish the Process for Transitioning the Provision of Early Childhood Special Education Services for Children with Disabilities from 4 Years of Age to under 6 Years of Age from the Regional Child Development Services System to School Administrative Units.

 

The Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs is seeking your testimony and comment on draft legislation, attached, at a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, March 23rd at 9:30 a.m.  This public hearing will be held electronically. Please submit written testimony to our committee clerk, Eli Murphy, at E...@legislature.maine.gov. In the subject line please write “CDS Testimony – YOUR NAME”. In the body of the email be sure to include your name, your town or affiliation, and whether you are for the draft legislation, against it, or neither for nor against. If you would like to register to testify via Zoom at the public hearing, please register using the following link: REGISTER HERE. Registration will close 30 minutes prior to the start of the hearing. Please note that depending on how many people sign up to testify, the Chairs may limit testimony to 3 minutes each.

 

In addition to the draft legislation attached to this email, additional information, including but not limited to the Department of Education reports pursuant to LD 255 and LD 386, may be found here.

 

Please note that the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs has not taken a position on the substance of this draft legislation and by holding a public hearing is not suggesting and does not intend to suggest that it agrees or disagrees with any aspect of the draft legislation. The joint standing committee is holding the public hearing as it would for any other proposal that has been printed and referred to the committee. If a majority of the committee votes in favor of the draft legislation, or an amended version, the committee will report out a committee bill for the purpose of sending it to the floor with a final recommendation on the substance of the bill, and the bill will be taken up for action by the House and Senate.

 

Sincerely,

 

Elias Murphy

Committee Clerk

Education and cultural Affairs

Maine Legislature

(207) 287-3125

 

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