Family Cost Participation Letter

I just spoke with the hotline, apparently, in addition to your income statement form, you are able to submit a statement if you have a hardship in detail. There is no policy or procedure in place as to what hardships are taken into consideration or how they are "judged". After they review what you submit, they will send you a statement detailing what they expect you to pay based on their calculations.

If you stil disagree, you can submit a written request for an "informal review", if you disagree with that, you can then request a "formal review", and I guess they make a decision after that, no info on what happens if you disagree with the formal review or what happens if you continue to recieve services during this appeal process.

Still working on it.

Keep contacting your legislators, and here is the contact link to info for the Federal Office for Special Education Programs if you would like to complain there too:

http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/monitor/state-contact-list.html

Proposed Budget

I was just reading over the new proposed budget for next year, I for the life of me cannot understand how anyone would think that these cuts were in the best interest for the health and welfare for the majority of the citizens in Arizona. The legislature is clearly NOT acting in our best interest at ALL.

I wish we could have a recall election for Governor Brewer, I believe she has gone off of the deep end with this one, but wait, WE DIDN'T EVEN ELECT HER AS GOVERNOR, WE ELECTED SOMEONE ELSE WHO WOULD NOT HAVE MADE THESE CHOICES OR DECISIONS, PERIOD!

It is frustrating, it really is, do they not hear us????

Due Process Hearing Update

I recieved a "Pre-Hearing Order" in the mail. I called the court to see if the State's request to dismiss was denied, and the person on the phone told me that although there were no notes, we can assume the judge is going to schedule a hearing.

I must admit it has been a draining, and somewhat indimidating process, especially since I am not an attorney, and the Attorney General's office is representing the State, it hardly seems fair, but thankfully we have a very understanding judge. I have had to do quite a bit of research in preparing for this, I'm not sure what is going to work and what is not, so I'm waiting to post that info until I'm sure of what works to avoid any confusion. Luckily I have a husband that has experience with preparing legal documents, so we have been able to use the same format the State is using, there is a series of free templates of legal forms at Microsoft that have been very helpful, the links are below.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC060869891033.aspx?CategoryID=CT102566891033


http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT102566891033.aspx

Hope everyone had happy holidays, and lets hope for a great 2010!