NIU programs for the handicapped were slighted by President Bush’s new budget proposals although they need the money for improvement.

NIU handicapped and deaf-blind programs will see nothing from Bush’s education programs proposal for fiscal year 1991—close to $500 billion—which is an increase of about $23 million from next year’s $458 billion.

Only elementary and high schools receive state and federal funding for handicapped programs from this budget, said William Bursuck, NIU special education faculty chairman. These programs still do not have enough money, he said.

Funding has stayed the same, but it is not enough. “It seems to be a pattern,” Bursuck said.

The estimated FY90 budget for state-funded handicapped and deaf-blind programs is about $22.4 million.

Universities receive money for these programs from a general state revenue. However, it is not required by law that they receive money from Bush’s new budget, Bursuck said.

Because universities do not receive state and federal funding specifically for handicapped programs, NIU “is managing what we have but more services are needed,” Bursuck said.

Linn Sorge, disability services team coordinator, said NIU has many disability programs. Some programs include handicapped transportation, testing on Braille or audio tape and reading services for the blind.

But these services are limited because there is not enough money for them, Sorge said. With no help from the government, the programs will not improve, she said.

Sorge said the handicapped student population is increasing. Without more money, the programs cannot expand to meet the rising demand, she said.

Students will not benefit because new programs will not be developed, Sorge said.

Bush’s budget for FY91 will be thinner because NIU will have to spread the money through all the programs, she said. “We are going along as best as we can and we will keep doing it.”