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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Good Morning Federation Family:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=p1><b>Iowa schools will have to start paying for students' Braille materials this fall</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=p2><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=p3><b>Phillip Sitter</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=p4>Des Moines Register<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p2><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p6>Heather Doe, spokesperson for the Department of Education, said the decision to end the contract will affect 43 students served by 39 districts.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p7><b>What does this mean for Iowa schools?</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>"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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>"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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>Both types of plans are meant to ensure that the learning needs of children with disabilities are met.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>"Over the past few years, there have been fewer than five students with 504 plans in need of Brailling materials," Doe said.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>Wharton said more information about the process is available at <span class=s1>idbimclibrary.blog/test-order-information</span>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p7><b>The Department for the Blind has been worried about another state contract</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=p5>The Department for the Blind was concerned about being able to meet its payroll if the contract was not received. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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 <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Here are my comments on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa.<span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Scott Van Gorp, President<br>National Federation of the Blind of Iowa<br>Phone: 515-720-5282<br></span><a href="mailto:svangorp@nfbi.org"><span style='color:#0563C1'>Email</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.nfbi.org/"><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0563C1'>Website</span></i></a><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <br></span></i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/National-Federation-Of-the-Blind-Of-Iowa-372681823082570/posts"><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0563C1'>Facebook</span></i></a><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <br></span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/nfb_iowa"><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0563C1'>Twitter</span></i></a><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <br>Live the life you want.<br></span></i><br>The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>