It's Your Money NYC: Hold Your Government Accountable

Funding for '09

$ 209,978,255

Employees

11,929

Who funds this program?

City

167,615,749 (80%)

State

42,363,505 (20%)

How is the money spent?

Salaries

209,978,255 (100%)

What your money funds:

This program offers additional support to the Special Education programs in the New York City schools. Many of the programs are the collaborative efforts between Department of Education and other city agencies. This program covers the cost of these contracts.

1. Office of Special Education Initiative teams, comprised of senior level educators with instructional, clinical, and operational expertise, are available throughout the city to support schools in meeting their needs. These teams provide specialized consultation in the development and implementation of action plans which focus upon improving the quality of educational programs and services provided to students with disabilities.

2. One source of professional development is called "Menu-Drive Professional Development. Menu-Driven Professional Development is an ongoing process which will encourage each assessment professional to generate his or her own plan for professional development. The Professional Development Committees have submitted program offerings which have been combined with other conference offerings into a master Menu. Staff members may choose from activities selected by their Professional Development Committee, or may determine alternatives in consultation with an appropriate supervisor.

3. Another program is the ASD Nest Program. The ASD Nest program is designed to help higher functioning children with autism, or Asperger's Syndrome, thrive in mainstream settings and in the community. It was first introduced in PS 32 in Brooklyn in 2003 and has expanded to 13 schools city- wide. The ASD Nest program includes outreach by each region to its area's pre- school community and parents of five-year-old children entering the school system; training regional staff to recognize the characteristics of children with ASD; and a comprehensive evaluation process that includes a state-of-the-art assessment tool, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, to determine whether children meet the criteria for an ASD.