NORWAY – A state Department of Education budget-cutting proposal to centralize some functions of the 16 Child Development Services sites in Maine has a local official worried that services to disabled children would be hurt.
Education Commissioner Susan Gendron is scheduled to present her proposal to the state Appropriations and Education committees today. If the committees support the plan, it would go before the full Legislature in January.
“My biggest concern is how is it going to affect services to children,” said Bette Woodbury, site director of Child Development Services-Opportunities, on Tuesday. Child Development Services-Opportunities has 18 employees in offices in Norway and Mexico, which serve families in Oxford County and northern Cumberland County.
On Tuesday, Gendron will meet with parents of special needs children who receive services from these two offices to outline her proposed changes to the development program. The meeting will be 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Ripley Medical Office Building in Norway.
Contracted providers, school superintendents, elementary school principals and special education directors are also invited to attend. Gendron will hold similar meetings at the remaining Child Development sites during the next several weeks.
The program is administered by the Education Department and funded by federal and state monies. The 16 sites coordinate services for disabled children from birth to age 5, including speech, physical, developmental and occupational therapy services.
Gendron has a mandate from Gov. John Baldacci to cut $6.5 million from the Child Development budget over the next two years.
Woodbury said Gendron is proposing a centralization that would transfer fiscal functions, including payroll and billing, from the 16 sites to the state level. She also is proposing that the 16 individual boards of directors be dissolved and that one state-level board be created.
“She has to find the savings somewhere,” Woodbury said. “She’s trying to do it in a way that will not hurt children.”
Still, Woodbury said the centralization plan would cut her support staff from three people to one. The remaining employee’s working hours could also be reduced, which could adversely affect local service to parents and children, she said.
“She is proposing one support personnel (employee) for every 500 children. Right now, we have 400 children on the rolls, so we may have to go to four days per week,” Woodbury said. “I’m concerned about local access for parents. That is what is so important to keep.”
A state-level Child Development board of directors, if created, would take effect on July 1. Woodbury said all remaining employees at her offices would have to reapply for their positions.
“It is not a comfortable situation at all,” she said. “It is the fear of the unknown.”
Comments are no longer available on this story