SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) will continue to allocate $76 million in available federal funds to maintain essential mental health services for students with severe disabilities despite Governor Schwarzenegger's unilateral suspension of mental health services for students and his line-item veto of $133 million in general fund for services provided by county mental health offices.
"Every California student deserves an education that gives them the opportunity to meet their full potential," O'Connell said. " Governor Schwarzenegger's action to eliminate funding for severely disabled students' mental health services is cruel to vulnerable children and is yet another slap in the face to public schools that have been underfunded by $21 billion over the last three budget years. I refuse to let the Governor's misguided action prevent severely disabled students from getting the mental health care they need from qualified providers. I have directed CDE to disburse federal funds allocated for this purpose in the same manner as it has for the last six years so that districts can continue to contract with the most appropriate providers and ensure continuity to help these vulnerable students."
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