Special Education Listserv
Subject: Assistive Technology/Reimbursement Program
Source: Heidi Atkins Lieberman, Assistant Commissioner
Intended Audience: Directors of Special Education, Coordinators of Special Education, and Special Education Contacts
Date: April 21, 2009
I wanted to share with you that I have decided not to fund the Assistive Technology Reimbursement (ATR) Program for the 2009-10 school year.
As you know, the program provides reimbursement to districts for purchases of AT required in student IEPs. We have been funding this for several years and it has been a wonderful use of funding. However, the purchase of assistive technology is an allowable, and encouraged, use of the forthcoming IDEA stimulus funds that districts will be receiving.
In response to school districts having these additional stimulus monies, it was decided to suspend the ATR Program for the upcoming school year and use the monies we would have spent ($300,000) reimbursing school districts to instead replenish ETC, the assistive technology equipment loan pool.
It has been five years since ETC has received any state general revenue funds to support expansion and upgrade of its inventory. Improvements to the inventory will allow the program to keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and will significantly decrease the wait time for high demand items. A state-of-the-art device loan program readily available to school districts is important in helping to assure stimulus dollars are well spent.
Please remember that Missouri Assistive Technology (MoAT) can be a resource to help districts with AT purchasing decisions for individual students through technical assistance and through device trials provided by ETC equipment loans. If schools are looking to purchase AT district-wide using stimulus dollars, MoAT can provide help with this also.
Districts with questions about ATR or in need of consultation, should contact David Baker with Missouri Assistive Technology at 816-228-6595.