PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Yaakov Mandel, President of Ichud Mosdos Hachinuch, on Special Education Funding Issues
4:51:00
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Yaakov Mandel, President of Ichud Mosdos Hachinuch, testified about the significant delays in receiving payment from the Department of Education (DOE) for tuition reimbursements awarded through impartial hearing decisions. He highlighted the financial strain this places on their private special education program and requested immediate action to address the backlog of payments and improve the system for future reimbursements.
- Ichud Mosdos Hachinuch is owed $2,654,000 from decisions made months to years ago, with some dating back almost 3 years
- The program serves 235 students with learning disabilities in mainstream private schools, with many students achieving Regents diplomas
- Mandel requested facilitation of the overdue payments and systemic changes to ensure timely future payments as legally mandated
Yaakov Mandel
4:51:00
Thank you, Joseph.
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My name is Yaakov Mandel, and I work for ICHUD Mostov Sakhinok.
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ICHUD is a private special education program servicing 235 students with learning disabilities within mainstream private schools.
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Our self contained classes have successfully enabled many students to return to the mainstream classes.
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Most of our high school students earn a regent diploma.
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I repeat that again.
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They earn a regent diploma.
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Our program enjoys a well deserved positive reputation.
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Parents come to us when the d o DOE does not offer an appropriate placement in the public school.
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The parents then request tuition reimbursement from the DOE.
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The DOE can either settle with the parents or go for an impartial fear hearing.
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The settlements significantly improved recently.
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I'm here today to address the cases that went for hearings and decisions were made years months ago and were not paid.
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At this time, Ehud is owed $2,654,000 from decisions that were made by impartial hearing officers months years ago.
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On most decisions, the officers state clearly that it must be paid within 15 days or they write 30 or 60 or 90 days.
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Of the above $2,600,000 more than 1,000,000 are from decisions that were made between 455 and 1000 days ago.
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1000 days ago.
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Then there is approximately 1,000,000 for decisions that were made between a 180 and 365 days ago.
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Once again, the total amounts to 2 more than $2,600,000 Just to remind us all, that 1000 days is almost 3 years.
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This means that the DOE is seriously out of compliance.
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Our goal is to provide our students with the best possible education so that they can become fully functioning members of society.
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It is extremely, extremely challenging to do so without appropriate resources, especially resources that we are legally entitled to.
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We are asking you to please partner with us in 2 ways.
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A, facilitating the payments totaling 2 point $22,654,000 now, and, b, to make changes to the system so that in the future we are paid on time as we are legally entitled to so that we can focus on meeting our students' needs in the best possible way.
4:53:50
Thank you very much.