College savings plans known as ‘529 plans’ are gaining in popularity, with over 2 million new participant families in the past five years, but they remain relatively little-known. A recent Edward Jones survey found 62 percent of parents surveyed did not know what a 529 plan is.
A 529 plan is a college savings account that allows investments to appreciate, earn interest and dividends, and be withdrawn free of federal income taxes provided the funds are used to pay for higher education for a designated beneficiary. This includes tuition, books, fees and room and board at most colleges, universities, graduate schools, and vocational schools throughout the country.
The designated beneficiary of your 529 plan account need not be related to you. It can be set up for a child, grandchild, friend, or even yourself. The minimum contribution is just $25.
Capital gains tax rates may see significant increases in the near future, which would make 529 plans all the more attractive for their tax-free growth potential.
Contributions to 529 plans may not be deducted from federally taxable income, but many states, including New York, allow state tax deductions. New York allows deductions for 529 contributions of up to $10,000 per individual or $20,000 per couple. Contributions are subtracted directly from your gross income for tax purposes, meaning you do not have to itemize deductions to save on state taxes.
Also of interest to some is the fact although assets within a 529 plan may be reclaimed, they are not considered part of the contributor’s gross estate for estate tax purposes, allowing the plans to be used for estate planning purposes.
New York’s 529 program allows investors to choose from three age-based investment options that each gradually become more conservative as the beneficiary nears college age. Alternately, investors may design and manage their own investment strategy by allocating assets among 13 individual portfolios.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families in Connecticut who have lost loved ones. The Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton could have been any school in the country and the tragedy affects everyone. Clearly, we must all come together as a nation to address the issues that have led to this tragedy. But at this time, we should focus of our attention on the children and school staff who have lost their lives to senseless violence.
We know that families are struggling to process this tragedy that has occurred so close to home. Everyone must stay calm and remind our children that our schools are generally very safe places.
We ask that this tragedy not become an excuse to stereotype or discriminate against students with disabilities. In the aftermath of the shooting, unsubstantiated reports indicate that the gunman had Asperger’s syndrome or a “developmental disorder” and was shy and withdrawn. According to the Mayo Clinic: “Asperger’s syndrome is a developmental disorder that affects a person’s ability to socialize and communicate effectively with others. Children with Asperger’s syndrome typically exhibit social awkwardness and an all-absorbing interest in specific topics.” A diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome or autism does not make one more prone to violent acts. With appropriate support and services, children with Asperger’s thrive and can make incredible contributions to our society.
Slowly, we will begin to heal and have the time and the courage to confront the serious issues that led to this tragedy. We will have time to make schools safer for all. We will have time to fight against the culture of violence that has permeated our country. We will have time to ensure the right understanding, supports, and services are in place for all children. We will have time to address the mental health crisis affecting many of our young people. But for now, we need to mourn those lost and wait for answers and the truth.
Here are some resources to assist you and your children in coping:
The National Association of School Psychologists — Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers
Are you the brother or sister (sibling) of an individual with a developmental disability? *
Does your sibling live in New York State (including New York City)?
If you answered “yes” to these questions, then we want to hear from you! Please complete our New York State Siblings Needs Survey. We are trying to better understand the needs of siblings in New York State. The findings from this survey will help us plan the next steps to support adult siblings of persons with developmental disabilities. We will also give you a list of sibling web resources at the end of the survey. The survey will take about 10-15 minutes.
In a recent decision, Zeno v. Pines Plains Central School District, Docket No. 10–3604–cv. (2d. Cir. 12/5/12), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sent a resounding message to New York school districts and affirmed a $1 million dollar jury award to a student who faced bullying and harassment based on race for over three and a half years, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”). The award amounts to one of the largest damage awards in recent years in this type of case. Reflecting a culture that has recognized the grave harm of student bullying, the Second Circuit panel of three judges condemned school district inaction and found sufficient evidence in the record to support the jury’s finding that the District’s responses to student harassment “amount[ed] to deliberate indifference to discrimination.”
We applaud this decision, as it sets specific parameters on how school district officials should respond to student bullying and harassment and notifies school districts that ineffective action will not be sufficient to avoid liability for harm caused by student bullying.
The facts clearly support the ruling. Anthony Zeno, an African-American student who also was classified as a student with disability, moved to the Pines Plains School District in January of 2005 and began as a freshman. Harassment and bullying began almost immediately and never relented. A student threatened to rip his face off and used racial epithets when referring to him. In the student’s sophomore year, a student threatened to beat him up. Graffiti with death threats appeared in the school bathroom. Students threatened Zeno lynching by displaying a noose or threatening to put a rope around a nearby tree. Students tampered with Anthony’s locker so that it fell on his head and also filled the locker with garbage. In junior year, a student threatened him and repeatedly threatened his younger sister. When Anthony threw a punch, the district punished Anthony, but not the instigator. A student commented that Anthony would fit a role in the school play “if it was like a black gangster.” By senior year, the incidents grew more serious. For example, at an SMHS football game in September 2007, students instigated a fight and a student “jumped” Anthony’s friend, choking him until he lost consciousness. Students continued to call Anthony racial epithets in the hallways “all the time,” and he reported these comments to the principal. He encountered continued racial harassment on the bus to his off-campus BOCES program.
The student’s parent repeatedly informed school officials of the continuing and escalating harassment, each year. In Anthony’s freshman year, the parent wrote a letter to the Superintendent and school board notifying them of the harassment. The District never offered a meeting. At Anthony’s CSE meeting in June 2006, Mrs. Zeno said Anthony experienced school as a “battleground” and that the constant threats, epithets, and racial slurs created an atmosphere that sent a hate message. The parent initiated 30-50 communications on the bullying and harassment to the school district.
In response to these actions, the school district suspended certain students for approximately five days each, in response to various incidents. The Director of Special Education who was also the District’s Title IX compliance officer, also charged with investigating Title VI violations, never investigated the harassment although she had knowledge of them and received complaints. The District also conducted a mediation but did not notify the parent of the time or the date, and the mediator was not trained in diversity or bias awareness. While the school district conducted one day workshops against bullying, they were not targeted toward race and discrimination. Finally, the District hired a diversity consultant in Anthony’s junior year, but he only did preliminary work and never provided training.
The United States Department of Justice and Department of Education , charged with enforcing Title VI, submitted a brief in favor of the student’s position. The District contended that, as a matter of law, it was not deliberately indifferent to student harassment of Anthony. Specifically, it argued that (1) it reasonably responded to each reported incident, (2) it was under no obligation to implement the reforms requested by Anthony’s lawyer, and (3) it never knew that its responses were inadequate or ineffective.
While the court noted that, in some circumstances, prompt disciplinary action against a student’s identifiable harassers may show that a school district was not deliberately indifferent. The Second Circuit identified five circumstances which should have informed the District’s continued response to student harassment of Anthony was ineffective:
The District knew that disciplining Anthony’s harassers—through suspensions or otherwise-did not deter others from engaging Anthony in serious and offensive racial conduct.
The harassment directed at Anthony grew increasingly severe.
The disciplinary action had little effect, if any, on the taunting and other hallway harassment,
The District knew that the harassment predominantly targeted Anthony’s race and color.
As early as November 2005, the Dutchess County HRC and N.A.A.C.P. offered the District both a free shadow, to accompany Anthony during the school day, and a free racial sensitivity training series, which the District declined.
The Second Circuit panel upheld the jury finding that the school district was deliberately indifferent to actionable harassment. First, the panel upheld the finding that, based on the record below, the harassment Anthony suffered was “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive.” The court further upheld the jury findings that the District’s delay in taking additional action here was unreasonable and that the District’s additional remedial actions were little more than half-hearted measures. The Panel noted that “responses that are not reasonably calculated to end harassment are inadequate.” Finally, the panel upheld the award of $1 million dollars. The court rejected the school district’s argument that the damages were “garden variety,” in line with employment discrimination cases. The panel noted that Anthony was a teenager being subjected—at a vulnerable point in his life—to three-and-a-half years of racist, demeaning, threatening, and violent conduct. Furthermore, the conduct occurred at his school, in the presence of friends, classmates, other students, and teachers. The panel upheld the jury finding that the harassment would have a profound and long-term impact on Anthony’s life and his ability to earn a living.
What the Ruling Means for Parents and School Districts
The ruling should offer hope to parents of children facing bullying and harassment. The ruling confirms that parents must not give up and must keep relentlessly reporting and documenting all bullying and harassment in writing. The parent and student in this case kept detailed,and meticulous records for many years.
For school district staff, the ruling sends a clear message that staff must respond to student bullying in an effective way that actually targets and makes at least a reasonably calculated effort to stop the bullying and harassment. The United States Department of Justice noted that, in addition to accepting the offer of the NAACP for a shadow aide and sensitivity training, available and more effective responses reasonably calculated to ending the harassment could have included:
reaffirming the school district’s zero-tolerance policy against harassment;
redistributing the district’s code of conduct;
holding mandatory training for all employees and students;
issuing a letter to all parents that racial harassment of any form would not be tolerated; publicizing the means to report alleged harassment;
providing contact information for the school’s anti-discrimination officer; and
Adults with disabilities are increasingly at risk as the U.S. considers cuts to public funding. While the debate rages on concerning how the U.S. will continue to fund Medicaid and Social Security benefits, where cuts should be made and whether the systems are at all sustainable, millions of people with disabilities rely on the programs for a significant portion of their basic needs.
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, as of 2009, more than 5.5 million adults with disabilities living in the U.S. have their health care covered under Medicaid. Approximately 6.9 million individuals with disabilities get regular Social Security payments via the Supplemental Security Income program.
In addition to navigating the complex systems of medical care and education for persons with disabilities, family members often are faced with the issue of how to ensure adequate financial assets to pay for these expenses without disqualifying the person with disabilities from government benefits. Families often begin a special needs trust, which can have money placed into it on a regular basis for future needs, like a college savings plan. Others have the trust designed so that any proceeds from specific life insurance policies will be directed to the trust when they pass.
Many estate planning attorneys who specialize in special needs trusts suggest judicious planning. Rather than piece together a plan that may have significant holes, work with an experienced special needs trust attorney to help with financial planning. The family members of someone with a disability should ensure their own financial needs are also secure; if parents use all of their funds and go bankrupt, an entire family can be devastated. View the special needs trust attorney as an informational resource about other support systems; there may be outreach programs and other benefits available though Medicaid, such as art classes and drop-in programs. Work with other family members in developing a plan for trust administrators so they stay informed about plans for the special needs individual and the proper role of the administrator.
The parents of special needs children in New York City have been testifying about subpar school bus service in City Council hearings, to no avail.
According to parents, the city has a problematic school bus service, but officials from the Department of Education are not addressing the situation. In a three-hour hearing last month, officials discussed the issues regarding the DOE’s school-busing system. Parents also spoke to explain the issues they have faced for their special-needs children, including overcrowding, chronic lateness, route changes, staff transfers, undertrained drivers and attendants, and extended ride times.
One highly-cited example of an extended ride time was a three-year-old boy with autism who had to travel for five hours to get home due to the route on which he was placed. Students with special needs have Individualized Education Programs which specifically state their travel time limit: the IEP travel mandate requires that no student with special needs will travel for longer than one-and-one-quarter hours at a time.
Additional complaints included parents and children waiting for a bus which failed to show or was late five or more times, and a bus which was unable to manage wheelchair-bound students. As part of an efficiency system, the drivers face fines if the bus arrives late to school; the wait time has decreased from three minutes to one minute, which means that a driver may feel forced to leave the area before the child has boarded.
Parents also stated that there may be language barrier issues with drivers and attendants, although according to the DOE, all drivers and attendants must be English-speaking. Also, parents stated that most of the bus drivers and attendants were not adequately trained to work with students with special needs; the bus companies contract to serve the city and what constitutes comprehensive training falls under their definition. Inconsistencies include buses which may or may not have air conditioning, may or may not be equipped with GPS systems and do not have safety cameras.
Caring for a child or other family member with special needs presents a number of issues in areas of health, finance, and law. You need to make sure your child receives proper care, your estate is well-planned, and you are receiving all the government benefits for which you are eligible. Services abound to help you make the best decisions in these regards.
These matters, complex as they may be, may in fact seem straightforward in comparison to two issues you may face that have much deeper personal and emotional aspects. The first is the question of where a special needs family member should live. The second is the endurance of a marriage or other domestic partnership in spite of the stresses that special needs care imparts.
A moderate to severe developmental disability in a family member raises the question of whether home care or institutional care is best. You must realistically consider what is best not only for the special needs patient, but for the rest of the family as well. Objective analysis of such an emotionally challenging decision can be very difficult.
A special needs individual can become very dependent on routines; a change in their environment can cause undue stress. Family members, therefore, need to develop long-term plans and prepare for contingencies. When stay-at-home special needs patients outlive their parents, for example, they may have to deal with being relocated while at the same time dealing with losing a loved one. This can be very traumatic.
Overall divorce rates nationwide are quite high, and in families with special needs children, the rate is probably even higher. Stresses of all kinds make relationship problems harder to resolve, and special needs children are certainly no exception.
On the bright side, a vulnerable and disadvantaged child can bring out in couples a firmer resolve to stay together for the sake of the child. The prevalence of divorce means that counseling and other support services are readily available in most communities. Increased awareness of special needs families means support services tailored to your needs are also likely nearby. For instance, look for programs at local churches where your children can spend time with others like them, giving you and your partner a break and some time alone.
This month, we recognize the many sacrifices our military personnel and their families make to serve our country. Few of us stop to consider the sacrifices of the most vulnerable family members of military personnel—children with disabilities. It’s difficult for any child to be uprooted from a location every few years or more but having a disability compounds this disruption. Children with disabilities benefit from consistency and a supportive, familiar community and programs. Fortunately, the IDEA protects children with disabilities and requires school districts to provide a free appropriate education to all children, including children of military families, even when children live overseas. The IDEA requires school districts to immediately implement a student’s former IEP when he or she transfers from another location. Then, the school district will hold a CSE to amend the IEP as needed. But parents must be proactive. Here are three steps military families can take to protect their children:
1) Keep your own copies of your child’s records. Sometimes school districts take time to transfer records and to ensure a new transition into a new school.
2) Be aware of your child’s emotional needs. Children do not always adjust seamlessly to a new environment. Stay carefully attuned to your child’s social and emotional adjustment after each move especially for adolescents and teenagers, who may appear stoic but face adjustment problems.
3) Don’t be afraid to complain and speak out. While few individuals are more resilient than members of the military, this trait will not help your child with a disability. Alert the school district to problems early on and ensure that you advocate and speak up.
Developmental disabilities and delays in children used to be largely ignored before the age of five. Today, it is widely understood that important learning milestones occur well before then, and early therapy can do a great deal to help children.
In 1986, Congress established the Early Intervention (EI) program as part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). EI provides a variety of services for children from birth to the age of three to help with their mental, physical, emotional and social development. While not federally mandated, EI is implemented in all 50 states due to strong federal financial incentives.
When parents suspect their child may not be developing properly, a pediatrician can prescribe a full evaluation of the child’s faculties. If tests indicate that the child’s development is not optimal, the family meets with professionals to develop an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). At subsequent annual or biannual meetings, the child’s progress is assessed and the plan is modified as necessary.
Here are some examples of services provided through EI:
Occupational therapy assists in the development of self-help skills, adaptive behavior, and sensory and motor development.
Psychological services include conducting and interpreting psychological tests and planning counseling programs.
Family training assists parents in understanding their children’s unique needs and promoting their development.
Audiology and vision services identify and help correct sensory disorders and mitigate their effect on learning abilities.
Fifty years ago, a developmental problem, left untreated, might have destined a child to be institutionalized, whereas today, early intervention can help that same child integrate well with children their age by the time they reach grade school.
If you suspect your child may have a developmental disability or delay, talk to you pediatrician about testing and the EI program. If you disagree with your doctor’s opinion or the results of your child’s EI evaluation, and believe your child needs EI services, you may want to talk to a special needs advocacy lawyer.
Community bands together to form a company that will bring high quality services to special needs families at discounted introductory prices!
Keesago, LLC is a new company created by parents of special needs families for other parents of special needs families. Our mission- to revolutionize the way members of the special needs community find high quality resources!
How you ask? The Keesago team has decades of experience on the front lines – with therapists, schools, summer camps, educational products and the like. So we have pooled together our experiences and the knowledge of others across the tri state area to create a directory of “go to” resources. Also, we cut steeply discounted, introductory pricing with many. Finally, a company that can bring you the best of the best — at a discount!
How does it work? A weekly deal will arrive in your inbox at discounts of 50% or greater. Simply pick from multiple options all across the tri-state area. Also our resource directory contains a list of providers we like most and their services or products. Looking for a new speech therapist? In addition, we will also have a blog and a calendar of events in the region. And wait, there’s more…don’t miss out on a chance to win prizes, including free gift cards, classes and even more!
How do I sign up? Well that’s easy… Just visit us at https://www.keesago.com and like us at http://www.facebook.com/KeesagoLLC to become a part of this wonderful resource and virtual community.
This article does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon. If you need legal advice concerning this or any other topic please contact our offices to schedule a consultation with one of our attorneys at 914-684-2100 or 212-490-2020.
