[Tall-Corn] Des Moines Register Article

[Scott Van Gorp]

Good Morning Federation Family:

I wanted to draw your attention to an article that was published in the Des
Moines Register on Friday, August 5, regarding the Iowa Department for the
Blind and the Iowa Department of Education. The article is in response to
actions taken by the Iowa Commission for the Blind board on Tuesday August
2. The article will note that NFBI didn't immediately comment on the issue,
however that is not the whole story. I was contacted for comment and advised
the reporter I would need to vet my comments through our national
organization to ensure nothing needed to be included, and I had that
conversation on Thursday, August 4 with public relations. I'm going to paste
the comments I sent the reporter Thursday evening below the article for full
transparency. Apparently the reporter already had the story done as I
received an out of office response when I sent my comments over. At any
rate, I wanted to be very transparent about our stance on the issues raised
in the article. Director Wharton will be meeting with the Des Moines ICUB
chapter this evening and I have also invited her to speak at Saturday's
meetings as well and am awaiting response. ICUB is also on board with us on
this issue and was unfortunately able to submit comment in time as well. I
do plan to coordinate with ICUB to present a united front, so more to come
on that. Here's the article.

 

Iowa schools will have to start paying for students' Braille materials this
fall

 

Phillip Sitter

Des Moines Register

 

The termination of a contract means that some Iowa schools will have to
start paying for some students' Braille materials that previously had been
covered by the state.

At least two central Iowa school districts are figuring out what that might
mean for them, while the Iowa Department of Education is framing its choice
to end the contract with the Iowa Department for the Blind as an expansion
of choice for districts to best provide for their students.

The Department of Education will not renew a materials contract with the
Department for the Blind - worth $575,000, including $75,000 for an
extension through Sept. 30 - that allowed for the education department to be
billed for Iowa students who are blind or have low vision being provided
Braille and other accessible education materials.

Emily Wharton, director of the Department for the Blind, said the department
serves 110 students in 64 school districts across the state, though other
students may receive accessible materials from other sources, including
their districts.

Heather Doe, spokesperson for the Department of Education, said the decision
to end the contract will affect 43 students served by 39 districts.

Doe said the decision was made "in order to provide (school districts) with
the flexibility they need to best serve the Brailling needs of their blind
and visually impaired learners," because districts will have more vendors to
choose from than the Department for the Blind and Braille on Demand at Iowa
Prisons.

Iowa Prison Industries operates a braille transcription and production
service, though Wharton said the Department for the Blind has not placed
projects with Iowa Prison Industries for about two years "due to quality
concerns."

Wharton said Tuesday that a reason for the Department of Education's
decision to terminate its contract with the Department for the Blind had not
been received.

Doe told the Register on Wednesday that with the new process, "vendors will
directly bill districts for the service and districts can use federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA funds to pay for the
Braille services and cost it out as an individualized special education
supply cost. This change should expedite the procurement process, helping to
ensure districts receive their educational materials quicker."

What does this mean for Iowa schools?

School districts were told July 12 of the change, and the Department of
Education on July 20 held an information webinar for questions to be
answered, Doe said.

Once the materials contract expires, Wharton expects the Department for the
Blind will have enough available funds so that schools won't be first billed
until after Oct. 1.

"Because we are a library, we are allowing districts to return materials to
add to our collection and allow other districts to borrow them at a reduced
cost," Wharton added.

Des Moines Public Schools serves between 110 and 130 students who receive
some type of vision services, but not all require the use of Braille
material, according to district spokesperson Phil Roeder. 

The district has one staff member who can create Braille materials for
urgent needs, but most Braille materials come through the Department for the
Blind.

"We'd anticipate being billed monthly, similar to services contracted
through other agencies, but at this point we do not have details on how this
change will impact expenses," Roeder added. 

Doe said districts can use federal and state special education funds to
provide accessible instructional materials, such as Braille materials, to
students who have individual education plans. However, schools cannot use
that funding for students with 504 plans. 

Both types of plans are meant to ensure that the learning needs of children
with disabilities are met.

"Over the past few years, there have been fewer than five students with 504
plans in need of Brailling materials," Doe said.

Ames schools spokesperson Eric Smidt said the information about the
departments of education and for the blind was "new to many of us, so right
now I do not have any information to share."

Wharton said more information about the process is available at
idbimclibrary.blog/test-order-information.

The president of the National Federation of the Blind in Iowa declined to
immediately comment, and the presidents of the Iowa Council of the United
Blind and Iowa Association of Blind Students did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.

The Department for the Blind has been worried about another state contract

The Iowa Commission for the Blind's three members voted to allow for the
Department for the Blind to be able to draw up to $300,000 from gifts and
bequests in order to make ends meet while awaiting payment from the
Department of Education.

The education department also provides the Department for the Blind with a
$305,000 contract for personnel costs related to providing accessible
education materials, but the next contract - for fiscal year 2023, which
started July 1 - had not yet been received, as of Tuesday afternoon. 

Doe said Wednesday that a new contract for personnel costs was "in process
at the same amount as previous years," but did not immediately clarify what
"in process" meant.

The Department for the Blind was concerned about being able to meet its
payroll if the contract was not received. 

Wharton said the current balance of gifts and bequests totaled more than
$3.9 million and that the $300,000 "will only be transferred as needed and
when needed." Any funds withdrawn from gifts and bequests would be replaced
upon payment from the Department of Education, Wharton added   

 

 

Here are my comments on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind of
Iowa.

 

It is deeply concerning that the Iowa Department of Education has taken the
action that it has in terminating its contract with the Iowa Department for
the Blind. School districts will now be forced to come up with funding to
serve Iowa blind children, and many of these districts simply may not have
adequate funding available to ensure the quality education that blind
children, like all other children in Iowa expect and deserve. Braille
literacy in Iowa, like many states, is far below what is acceptable for the
general student population, and we fear that education gaps will only worsen
if funding is left to the individual school districts. We applaud the Iowa
Commission for the Blind in allowing gifts and bequests funding to be used
while the financial impacts of this contract termination are sorted out, but
long-term funding will be needed in order to ensure quality production of
materials by the Iowa Department for the Blind going forward. Not all
vendors provide the high quality of materials that IDB does, and Iowa's
blind children simply cannot afford to have lower quality materials than
their sighted peers. What the Department of Education has done here is
unacceptable, and the blind people of Iowa simply will not tolerate it.

 

Scott Van Gorp, President
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa
Phone: 515-720-5282
 <mailto:svangorp at nfbi.org> Email

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Live the life you want.

The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa is a community of members and
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we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

 

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