Latest news with #LD46
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Intellectually disabled students call on Legislature to create more inclusive college opportunities
Mar. 3—Maine high schoolers with intellectual and developmental disabilities are urging lawmakers to support the creation of more inclusive higher education opportunities. More than a dozen students, advocates and higher education leaders spoke Monday at a public hearing in front of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee to support LD 46, a bill sponsored by Rep. Kelly Murphy, D-Scarborough. The bill would create Inclusive Post Secondary Education, or IPSE, programs at five Maine colleges through $100,000 grants. These programs, housed at traditional colleges or universities, are designed for students with intellectual or developmental disabilities or autism, which have their own admissions process and special support systems. The bill would also provide scholarships for students. A similar bill passed the House and Senate last year but didn't receive funding from the appropriations committee. "For so many students with intellectual disabilities or who are on the autism spectrum, formal education most often ends with their high school diploma," Murphy said while introducing the bill. "This proposed legislation could change that, in alignment with educational opportunities already being offered in other states." Laurel Huntsberger, a senior at the Ecology Learning Center charter school in Unity who has Down syndrome, said she wants to go to college like her peers but is unsure what opportunities she has in Maine. "I don't know what's next for me after graduation. I fall into a gap. I haven't found programs that meet my needs, interests and abilities," Huntsberger testified. "This bill offers a solution that supports many young people who are capable and eager for college but need some extra support to be successful in that setting." Maine has one program, founded in 2023, for intellectually and developmentally disabled students at Saint Joseph's College in Standish. There's also a new program in the works at the University of Maine at Farmington. Kate Worden, a senior at Deering High School in Portland who takes both special education and mainstream courses, testified about the economic benefits of creating postsecondary opportunities for intellectually disabled students. She said students who participate in IPSE programs have three times the employment rate of their disabled peers who do not. "Peer models help us achieve academic and social goals. We build relationships, increase our networks, and most importantly, we acquire independent skills," Worden said. Higher education professionals from several Maine institutions also spoke in support. Audrey Bartholomew, a University of New England professor of education, said Maine educators already have an interest in creating IPSE programs. "The expertise, the energy and the commitment are already here. What's missing is the initial investment to get these programs off the ground. This bill provides a critical first step," she said. "A modest amount of funding can serve as a catalyst for a new movement in Maine, allowing colleges and universities to develop inclusive higher ed programs and, most importantly, provide scholarships." Sarah Howorth, an associate professor of special education at the University of Maine, testified in support of LD 46 on behalf of the state's public university system. She said expertise on intellectual disabilities, and education for students with them, already exists within the system, and she echoed ideas about the broad economic benefits of increasing higher ed opportunities for those students. "A transition to meaningful employment is a way that many young people find fulfillment in early adulthood, and advances the goal in the state's 10-year economic strategy of increasing labor force participation, including among individuals with disabilities," Howorth testified. "It's also important to remember that the services and supports that are offered to students with autism and intellectual disabilities on college campuses, like peer mentors, will help all students." Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proposed bill could help students with intellectual disabilities go to college
Feb. 13—Kate Worden is a busy high school senior. She plays basketball and volleyball, runs track and leads Deering High School's chapter of the nonprofit Best Buddies. She also works two jobs, is busy with her senior capstone project, and volunteers at her church. So of course, she has her sights set on college. But Worden, who has an intellectual disability, has limited higher ed options Maine, where few colleges and universities have what she needs: an Inclusive Postsecondary Education, or IPSE, program. These are higher education programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, housed within colleges and universities, usually with their own admissions process and special support systems. A bill before the Maine Legislature this session would provide grants to five colleges to create these programs and offer scholarships for disabled students. A version of the bill passed the House and Senate last year, but never got a hearing in the appropriations committee. Advocates are hoping it gets another chance this year. EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES Carrie Woodcock, president of the Maine Parents Federation, said Gov. Janet Mills' free community college program opened affordable higher education up to many Maine high schoolers, but not all of them. "In our state, for individuals affected by intellectual/developmental disabilities or autism spectrum disorder, that programing isn't accessible to them," she said. "There's nothing in the state of Maine with that equivalent opportunity, for individuals to have that type of education after they either graduate or age out of high school." Woodcock said there are 965 students in Maine with intellectual disabilities and 3,813 students with autism, according to the latest state data on K-12 public school students. She said colleges might offer some accommodations, but students who are developmentally disabled often need a fully modified curriculum. Those students usually aren't working toward a degree, but might be earning a certificate, auditing classes or gaining workforce skills. They'll often need support, from an administrator or peers, to safely live on campus and complete work. That's why she worked with Scarborough Democrat Rep. Kelly Murphy to craft LD 46, which would give Maine colleges money to create inclusive programs. It would provide five $100,000 competitive grants, available to both public and private colleges, to start up IPSE programs. That grant size is based on the reimbursement rate for the state's community college program, and an estimated 50 students. A quarter of the funding would go toward student scholarships. "It's not an extraordinary amount to get these programs up and running, and the impact will be largely positive for all those who come in contact with it," Woodcock said. IPSE programs, she said, can also benefit the general student body. "Studies do show that when individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities are included into typically developing learning environments, their rate of learning is increased by 55%," she said. "But their typically developing peers around them, their rate of learning is increased by 17%, by having that experience." After the bill failed to progress during the last legislative session, Woodcock said, the Maine Department of Education did agree to set up a $100,000 program at the University of Maine at Farmington. Samantha Warren, a spokesperson for the University of Maine System, confirmed that a program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities is in the works, although in the earliest stages of development. Warren testified in support of the bill last year and said she expects to provide similar testimony this session. 'EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO GO TO COLLEGE' Kate Worden takes both special education and mainstream courses at Deering. She wants to find a college program with similar accommodations. "My goal is to go to college, and find a program that can support me. And it's hard, but I'm definitely not giving up, because I believe that everyone should have a chance to go to college and be with typical peers and feel included," she said. Worden wants to be a therapist, and she's eyeing an IPSE program at Villanova University in Pennsylvania called VUnited Scholars. She would live in a dorm and participate in work opportunities while taking a mix of classes among the general student body, as well as specialized courses. She wants to play intramural basketball, and possibly join a sorority. It's too late for Worden to benefit from LD 46, but she and her mom, Kelly Lannon, are both advocates for the bill. Lannon said having IPSE programs in Maine would open the opportunity of college to a whole new population. "Not everybody has the resources or the ability to leave the state. It's a really big deal that Kate will be traveling by plane to get to school," Lannon said. "There's children that would not be able to travel like that, for one reason or another, and not having the opportunity to model after typical peers is a disservice to them." Lannon said with her older son, the college search was focused on things like location and academic programs. "But then when it came time for Kate to start pursing that, which is something she's talked about pretty much all her life, it was a different process. We didn't have the opportunity to say 'Oh gosh, I'd love to learn about sociology, or actuarial science.' Kate didn't have those options. She has options based on the type of education she was looking for," Lannon said. There is one IPSE program in Maine, the Integrated Studies Program at Saint Joseph's College in Standish which launched in 2023; Lannon said she and Worden were looking for something more established. There's also a program at Southern Maine Community College, although it didn't have the modified curriculum they were seeking. With more options in Maine, Lannon said, students like her daughter could base their educational choices on typical factors. Woodcock said she's preparing for the worst but hoping for the best as the bill takes its second journey through the Legislature. She knows the governor is already warning about a tight budget. But she said the bill has a pretty small price tag in the scheme of things, and would have an outsized positive impact. She's encouraging impacted families, especially students, to speak out once the bill has been scheduled for a public hearing. "There are no negatives, there are only positives," she said. "It just increases their ability to have as independent of a life as they wish to have, and have experiences just like their peers." Copy the Story Link
