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Politics & Government

Long Island's 4201 Schools May Lose Funding

Special needs schools reach out for support to restore proposed funding cuts.

Three 4201 schools on Long Island and 11 across New York State may lose direct state funding due to proposed budget cuts, which school representatives and local parents say would be disastrous to special needs students.

The three Long Island Schools that would be effected are Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf, Cleary School for the Deaf, and Henry Viscardi School at Abilities!

Mariah Sepulvdea is a seventh grader at the Henry Viscardi School at Abilities! in Albertson. She says Viscardi is the only school she wants to go to.

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“Before I went to Viscardi, I was in a different school, and people used to call me ‘slow poke’,” she said. “But when I came to Henry Viscardi, everyone was like me and I didn’t feel that different. I say Henry Viscardi School has a place in my heart.”

Executive Director of the Henry Viscardi School Patrice Kuntzler says the proposed budget cuts make the future hard to predict. Some believe that school districts will simply choose to educate special needs students within the district instead of sending them to the specialized 4201 schools.

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“Basically what the Governor’s proposal is, is to shift the funding from a New York State allocation to a methodology where the districts would pay for each child...districts are unprepared to fund the 4201 schools and are unprepared in knowing how to service the children appropriately,” Kuntzler said.

State , R-Mineola, and Assemblywomen Michelle Schimel, D-Great Neck, both pledged their support to help restore the funding to the 4201 Schools.

“One of the functions of government is to protect its most vulnerable citizens and these schools do that and we have to be aware of it. People have to be made aware of it,” Schimel said.

“4201 schools perform a vital service for our communities. Local districts simply do not have the ability, the wherewithal or the capacity to provide the same quality education to students with disabilities,” Martins said.

The Long Island 4201 schools are still lobbying to restore their funding, they ask anyone who would like to help to contact their local state representatives or to sign an online petition.

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