Abolishing state mandates that go beyond federal requirements would gut essential special education services for students with disabilities, under a plan unveiled by a state commission charged with reducing school property taxes.

The commission's sweeping cost-cutting plan would severely target special education services, roll back important state mandates and leave it up to school districts to decide how to best meet students' needs.

"In these very tough economic times we can't leave it to school districts to choose between providing appropriate services for children in need and cutting dollars," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. "We can't go back to the era when school districts made all the decisions: That was an era when students with disabilities were excluded from public schools, students didn't get the services they needed and too many children were lost in the student population."

NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira said the union will work with other advocacy groups to make sure special education students do not lose needed services.

"These dangerous proposals would seriously erode programs and services," she said, "and roll back all the achievement gains that students with special needs have made in the last decade."

Neira noted that dramatically more students with special needs are taking Regents Exams and passing them. Since 2000-01, the number of graduating students with disabilities earning Regents diplomas has grown from 15 percent to 48 percent in 2006-07.

Gov. David Paterson, who embraced the commission's final report at a news conference just two weeks before he releases his proposed state budget, said the commission focused on special education because it is a "huge expenditure ... we are number one in per capita spending, in volume - yet the graduation rate for these students is 38th in the nation."

The commission recommends a number of steps aimed at decreasing the special education classification rates and accelerating the mainstreaming of students by providing students with extra help within the general education setting.

Classification rates vary considerably across the state, Paterson noted, from a low of 2.2 percent to a high of 23.1 percent

Specifically, the plan calls for removing state-mandated pupil-teacher aide ratios and class size requirements.

The report also says there should be no mandatory minimum levels of special education services such as the current minimum of two hours per week for speech therapy.

The report suggests districts should not be forced to go through the formal classification process for students with milder needs.

While the commission calls for giving additional general education aid to districts that reduce classification rates, that would require a significant amount of additional state funding.

The report further proposes repealing the burden-of-proof legislation signed into law last year, shifting the responsibility for determining the adequacy of a child's Individualized Education Program to the parent.

"If this and the mandate relief proposals are enacted, it would result in school districts proposing minimal services for children and then requiring parents to prove these programs are inappropriate for their children," Neira said.

The commission, headed by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, held hearings around the state but failed to listen to the advocates for students, Neira said. "They only listened to people who wanted to cut costs, not those speaking on behalf of the students."

- Sylvia Saunders