Jason and Heather Jolley appreciate the good days, and there’s been more of them since they moved to Athens from North Carolina last year.
Days like those can range from when their daughter Abigail masters basic tasks — speaks a few words, makes eye contact, holds a pencil — to not having a severe meltdown.
These occurrences have been streaming in since Heather enrolled Abigail, who is severely autistic, in Beacon School, a K-12 school for children with developmental disabilities in Athens.
It’s the reason why she and Jason decided to move halfway across the country. It provides Abigail with one-on-one care and a place to socialize with children with similar disabilities. Heather and Jason, who is an assistant professor for the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, have two other daughters — Allie, a 4-year-old who has autism, and Audrey, a 5-year-old who has mild cerebral palsy.
Allie also attends Beacon School three days a week, while Audrey attends preschool in Chauncey.
The Athens couple has been on edge for a little over a month now since the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities met in March to warn parents and Beacon School employees of the approaching multi-million dollar deficit the board was facing that could cut services across the county.
“It would be devastating if that were to be taken away,” Heather said of Beacon School.
Atco, the work training center for adults with disabilities, and Passion Works, the art studio that aims to support artists with disabilities, both receive funding by the disabilities board and could face budget cuts.
Before the March meeting, Heather and Jason said they were not aware of the board’s financial situation.
They were only warned of the first meeting a few days prior, and Jason spoke after board members brought up the possible privatization of Beacon School and Atco. The privatization could lay off current employees and cut funding, Jason said.
The disability board moved to put its superintendent, Eric Young, under review following the financial claims.
“I had folks reaching out to me suggesting that there were claims that concerned privatization regarding Beacon,” Jill Thompson, Athens county auditor, said. “I was being told that the staff was being threatened and their jobs were at stake.”
Thompson said, upon review, her numbers for the amount of money coming and going through the board did not match up with its members.
“I ran an analysis and their numbers just didn’t hold water,” she said.
Thompson said, not only were the board’s forecasted numbers incorrect, but some of its actuals were as well. She said the board’s business manager, Stephen Kramer, has been correcting former numbers to match hers.
The board has an annual budget of $6 to 8 million, Thompson said, adding, over the years, the board has saved about $6 million in a carryover fund.
“Costs have continued to increase and at the end of 2013 in December we had a deficit that amounted to $1.1 million,” John Day, president of the disabilities board, said. “We currently have about $4 million in carry-forward funds after absorbing this loss, and could absorb this sort of loss for another year or so, but unless we increase our revenue or cut our costs we will not be able to sustain this.”
Day said, the $1.1 million deficit has been verified by the auditor, who had previously been told the deficit could be as large as $6 million. He added, Thompson has been working with Kramer to identify the severity of the problem and how long the board has to solve it.
There will also be additional stakeholders meetings, Day said, to judge the best route for dealing with the deficit. He said it’s far too early to tell where cuts could be made.
Maryalice Turner, principal of Beacon School, said many of the details are still not clear to her as far as what will happen to educational services.
For now, parents like Heather and Jason have to wait.
“They said they were going to set Abigail up for success,” Heather said. “In North Carolina, she was set up for failure. She’s so happy at Beacon. She has wonderful teachers.”
The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities will hold a meeting Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Beacon School. The Friends of Atco/Beacon Facebook page is urging parents to attend, saying “this isn’t over yet,” and donning shirts that read “People not profit, support friends of Atco/Beacon.”
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@eockerman
