In a Squeeze : Budget Crunch Threatens Special School’s Scholarships

Eight years ago, Toni Johnson was told that her 9-year-old daughter was lazy and didn’t want to learn. But after testing at the ERAS Center, a private, nonprofit special education school, her daughter was diagnosed as having dyslexia, a brain disorder that impairs the ability to read.

Johnson’s daughter received educational therapy at the ERAS (Educational Resource And Services) Center for the next eight years while attending public schools, and next month will graduate from Beverly Hills High School. In the fall, she will attend UC Berkeley as part of its learning disabled program.

“ERAS has been a godsend,” said Johnson, who asked that her daughter’s first name not be used to protect her privacy.

But help for students like her daughter, who is on a partial scholarship to pay for her therapy, is in danger because of a financial squeeze facing ERAS, which operated for seven years in Beverly Hills before a recent move to Culver City.

Barbara Cull, the center’s founder and director, said an increase in insurance premiums and the prospect of asbestos-removal work at the center has added $320,000 to the center’s $2-million annual budget.

ERAS is one of many private schools in the area that provide specialized instruction for students with learning or emotional problems. Many of its students are referred by public school districts, which pick up most of the cost.

What sets ERAS apart, however, is its ambitious effort to seek out additional students who need specialized instruction but for various reasons are not eligible for it in their school district. By raising funds from corporate and individual donations, ERAS is able to offer some full and partial scholarships for students whose parents cannot afford the tuition, which can reach $20,000 a year.

Cull said that if the $320,000 is not raised by the end of the year, the center will be forced to limit its services to students whose parents or school districts can pay the full cost.

“We are taking kids that would have been lost in the system,” Cull said. “We are trying to meet the needs of low-income families. But we may not be able to do that much longer.”

Cull said she established the center in 1980--by getting a second mortgage on her house--after discovering that there were limited resources for children with learning and emotional disabilities.

Many of the programs offered at public schools were full or inadequate, said Cull, who is also a mother of a child with a learning problem.

The center now offers a day school program for children 4 to 19 years old, after-school child care for special education students, a summer camp, vocational training, a hot line, and diagnostic testing and counseling. The center serves about 350 students a week in its various programs.

“We are working to provide a place where anyone with concerns about these disabilities can get help regardless of their need or ability to pay,” Cull said.

The center is in a nondescript warehouse-type building on Jefferson Boulevard in an industrial area of Culver City.

Inside, however, the atmosphere is much more inviting. Hallways are lined with photographs and artwork by the children. Elementary school children are usually four or five per classroom, junior high students six to eight per classroom and high school students eight to 10. The students receive instruction in regular academic courses as well as art and music.

Cull said that while some students complete their entire education at ERAS, most are at the center for three to five years until they are ready to function at regular schools.

One 14-year-old student, Debbie, has been at ERAS since 1986 and is expected to attend public school this fall.

“I thought I was real tough. I wanted to fight everybody,” Debbie said. “I think I’m ready for regular school, but I know that if I have problems I’ll come back here.

Another student, Scott, was having problems reading when he came to ERAS nearly three years ago. He too is expected to enter a regular school this fall.

“I want to be a pediatrician when I grow up and help kids,” Scott said.

Unexpected Progress

Parents have seen progress in their children that they never expected to see.

Johnson, who is now assistant development director at ERAS, said the counseling helped her daughter’s self-esteem.

“It has just done wonders,” Johnson said. “At first she didn’t want anyone to know that she was getting counseling, but after about three months, she was open about it.”

Mary Dean, whose 14-year-old son son has been enrolled at ERAS since he was 6, said the center has helped him find a talent for writing songs.

“I don’t think he would have been able to succeed at public school,” she said. “At 6 he was not very verbal. Now, he sometimes is too verbal.”

Bonnie Pelner said her son has “done nothing but grow” during his eight years at ERAS, during which he has discovered a talent for sculpting.

“I don’t think he could have managed it without ERAS,” she said.