Future uncertain for Idaho deaf, blind school

From: KTVB, ID - Mar 20, 2006

Associated Press

BOISE -- A bill to disband the 100-year-old Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind in Gooding is in the works.

It'll be considered tomorrow in the House Education Committee.

Enrollment has been shrinking and per-student costs have risen to more than $80,000 a year.

Members of the legislative budget writing panel say the residential school should be abandoned in favor of a regional approach that puts more children with hearing or seeing disabilities in mainstream classes.

One solution for the school facilities would be to turn it into a treatment center for mothers who are addicted to methamphetamine and get crossways with the law, Rep. Kathy Skippen said.

Idaho prisons are already overcrowded, and the state is seeking alternatives for people addicted to the illegal stimulant.

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