Now We Need Affirmative Action In Autism?

It seems that autism afflicts whites disproportionately in one Connecticut school district. So the Obama Administration is forcing it to divert funding.

Autism rates are skyrocketing, with the latest studies showing 1 in every 110 children on the autism spectrum. Properly educating autistic children is extremely expensive, and local districts rely on federal funding to offset the cost to taxpayers. The issue also hints at a hidden trend: Parents of autistic children may be moving to certain communities because the public school district has a good reputation for educating autistic children.

Amity Superintendent of Schools John Brady said he is frustrated and shocked. His dilemma began last year when the district — which serves Bethany, Orange and Woodbridge — received a letter from the state Department of Education. The state told Amity it has too many white students who are diagnosed as autistic when compared to other racial subgroups. Amity last year had 38 white autistic students, one Asian and one black.

Amity and Vernon are the only two school systems in the state and among only a handful nationwide to have a “significant disproportionate” amount of white autistic students, state officials said.

Such a classification requires the district to divert 15 percent of its Individual with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, federal funds, or $67,000 in Amity’s case this year, toward programs designed to reduce those numbers.