[Nfbmo] Budget

Gary Wunder gwunder at earthlink.net
Wed Mar 11 13:17:14 UTC 2009


This is an absolutely superb letter. Thank you for sending it. I'm going to share it with the list.

Gary
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: James Moynihan 
  To: Gary Wunder 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 11:43 PM
  Subject: Fw: Budget 


  Hope you like this.

  Cordially,

  Jana and Jim Moynihan


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: James Moynihan 
  To: jason.kander at house.mo.gov 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 11:40 PM
  Subject: Budget 




  Dear Representative kander:

  I doubt that you remember me, but you spoke with me when you were canvasing our neighborhood for votes last summer.  I definitely felt you would be a good representative and voted for you in November.  I was delighted to see that you were elected.

  My husband and I are both blind.  We are members of the National Federation of the Blind in Missouri.  On February 16 and 17, 2009, several of us were at the Capitol to discuss with our representatives and senators some legislation we felt would benefit blind persons in the State.  We understand that two of the issues we discussed will be up for budget Committee mark-up tomorrow.  These issues are the Blindness Skills Specialists and the ETC Program, both funded out of the Missouri Department of Education.  

  We would appreciate your support for retaining funding in the budget for all 6 of the Blindness Skills Specialist positions presently in existance.  The blindness skills specialist works with teachers and school districts in his or her assigned region of the State to help them provide an appropriate education and methods of instruction for blind students.  Many of these districts are in rural areas and often do not have personnel with the appropriate expertiese in working with blind children.  The blindness Skills Specialists provide support and information to the district and the children's teachers regarding how to work with these students and what type of equipment and services may be most helpful.  If we lose any of the six slots we now have, it may be a long while before we can get them back and children in those regions lacking Blindness skills specialists may go without appropriate and meaningful education.  In addition, not many people go into training as instructors working with blind children, so, if Missouri gets a reputation for laying off any of these persons, we may have a hard time attracting such people in future.

  With regard to the ETC Program, this is a program to provide loaner equipment to school districts to try with blind students to see what equipment will be most effective for that student's skill level and type of blindness.  This allows districts to pick the best equipment for each student before having to spend the usually large amount to purchase it.  This prevents students from getting equipment they cannot use effectively.  Some of this equipment can also be loaned to employed blind persons whose equipment needs to be sent back to the manufacturer for repairs.  This sometimes takes a long while.  with the loaner equipment, the blind person can continue to perform their job duties without interruption until their equipment is returned or new equipment can be purchased by them or their employers.  We understand that the funding for this equipment was dropped from the budget and we feel it should be restored.  There have been no funds for this program for some time and the equipment in this program is rapidly becoming obsolete, or is in need of repair or replacement.

  Please consider our request and work to protect the funding for all 6 Blindness skills specialist slots in the budget and restoring funding for the ETC program to the budget.

  Thank you for your help and attention in this matter.


  Sincerely,

  Jana and Jim Moynihan




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