ESC seeks support of Happy Hearts levy

Nov. 02--ASHTABULA -- Voters will be asked to consider an issue Nov. 6 to provide funding for the educational needs of children with disabilities.

Issue 3 is a 10-year, 1.5-mill additional levy for the Ashtabula County School Financing District, which would generate about $2.6 million annually for the Happy Hearts program, now run by the Educational Service Center. The additional cost to a homeowner if the levy passes would be about $52 per year.

For all of the 70 children in the program, which serves those from birth to age 22, it costs about $3.4 million to educate them, ESC Superintendent John Rubesich said. The Ohio Department of Education provides about $900,000 to cover the difference, he said.

The financing district was formed by the ESC to pursue a county-wide levy for special education after the county DD Board decided it could no longer afford to serve school-aged children, Rubesich said.

After the DD Board changed direction, those children served by Happy Hearts program came back on to the rolls of their home districts throughout the county -- but none of the DD levy money followed them, Rubesich said.

Without the creation of a county-wide financing district, Rubesich said each of the seven districts in the county would be responsible moving forward for the costs to educate the children within their individual education plans. This would mean districts going after their own levies with their own millage rates to cover the cost for whichever children live in their districts, he said.

Issue 3 covers all of the cost at a millage rate Rubesich says is fair to everyone. If students go back to their home districts there would also be additional costs incurred in each district, which would then have to hire multiple professionals from therapists to speech pathologists, he said. The ESC is currently able to handle those services.

"We are going to live within this budget for 10 years," Rubesich said. "This is still Happy Hearts, it's just under the umbrella of the educational service center."

Happy Hearts students currently receive education at the new ESC building in the former Thomas Jefferson Elementary on West 13th Street in Ashtabula as well as satellite programs in the Conneaut, Grand Valley, Pymatuning Valley and Geneva school districts. Rubesich said the levy provides not only education for students, but also related services like physical, occupational and speech therapy and nursing services as well as job training and career placement for older children.

"It's ongoing life skills that we're teaching for a dollar a week," Rubesich said. "The residents of the county have been supporting the Happy Hearts school-aged children program since the 1960s and we're just asking them to continue that unwavering support. We're asking the public to help us help these students."

Missy and James LaCava, whose son James, 6, is in the program said they too hope the public understands what Happy Hearts provides.

Their son was born premature as a "unique baby" with a rare issue with his eighth and ninth chromosomes. That resulted in speech delays, learning disabilities and a delay in lung and muscle development, James LaCava said.

Through the Happy Hearts program, James goes swimming and has built muscle, his father said. The program has meant the world to the LaCavas, who said they faced an uphill battle when their son was born at 3 pounds with a hole in his heart.

James LaCava said he considers his son a miracle who was born a little less fortunate than others, but he said without Happy Hearts he and his wife would have been at a loss as to how to handle his circumstances.

Today, James is a kindergartener in the Buckeye Local Schools District, but he still goes to Happy Hearts. Missy LaCava said her son would not have made the progress he has with motor skills had it not been for his participation in the program.

"To have this in your community, as far as the services that are offered, is very critical," James LaCava said. "To have those services was a savior to not just us, but any one of those kids that are in that program. I'm very thankful for the services and all the staff that are involved there."

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