Editorial: This plan will aid special education

Last year the state Board of Education passed a regulation that mandated smaller classes for special education students. There was just one catch: The board never asked the Legislature to provide funding to the schools to carry out this mandate, which naturally upset the schools.

But luckily a compromise has been reached. The state Department of Education will give the schools $4 million in federal dollars it has to fund the initiative, which will tide them over until the Legislature meets again in 2001. Lawmakers should fund this worthy plan, but in the future the Board of Education should show common sense before thrusting expensive unfunded mandates on public schools.

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