BOSTON - The Roman Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts issued a statement Wednesday supporting the continuance of the present standards in the state’s special education statute known as Chapter 766.

The statement came after a day-long hearing held by the Legislature’s joint committee on education at the Statehouse, during which proposed changes in the statute were discussed.

The Massachusetts statute requires school districts to provide public and non-public schools with special needs programs that ensure a child’s maximum possible development in the least restrictive environment. It is called the maximum feasible benefit standard.

Critics of the standard claim it costs municipalities too much money to pay a large part of the cost of each child in the state program and that the state funds less than 20 percent of the cost.

They point out that the federal government and every state but Massachusetts operate under a standard called free and appropriate public education. It requires school districts to provide programs considered adequate and appropriate and gives a child with special needs some benefit or some meaningful benefit.

They say the state could save millions of dollars on special education by switching to the federal standard.

The bishops said they "strongly urge the governor and the members of the General Court to preserve Massachusetts’ ‘maximum feasible benefit’ standard in special education as part of the Commonwealth’s special education statute.

"Even with today’s strong laws, too many parents constantly struggle to obtain the necessary services for their children. The ‘maximum feasible benefit’ standard is essential to overcoming the prejudicial views about the limited potential of disabled students and freeing them to develop their God-given potential.

The bishops’ statement said that many children with severe disabilities "are alive today as a result of modern medicine and their parents’ love and prayers. They bring great joy and love to their families and remind us all of God’s great love."

The bishops said those children " have as much claim on the concern of society and its policy-makers as their non-disabled peers do. We are deeply troubled, therefore, by a public debate on special education that applies a simple cost benefit analysis to attempt to measure the value of these precious human lives "We are most concerned about the further marginalization of our disabled children in their own communities - a marginalization resulting from their programming needs and the costs associated with them. No family should be made to feel guilt and shame over the educational needs of their children."

The statement was signed by Bishop Reilly, Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston; Bishop Sean O’Malley, OFB, Bishop of Fall River, and Bishop Thomas Dupre, Bishop of Springfield.

Gerald D’Avolio, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, said the bishops’ statement was delivered to Sen. Robert Antonioni, D - Leominster, chairman of the joint Legislative committee on education, and to each of the committee members.

The Parents Alliance for Catholic Education (P.A.C.E.), headquartered in Fitchburg, also gave the committee a statement favoring the maximum feasible benefit standard, according to P.A.C.E. executive director Stephen A. Perla.

The statement expressed the support of the Catholic school community for three principles to be included in any bill reported out of the committee.

They are:

Maintaining of the state’s maximum feasible benefit standard.

Increasing state funding to reimburse local school districts for the cost of educating students with more severe disabilities.

Ensuring that both public and non-public school students and equitably treat in any reform.

The statement said that children with disabilities "are most vulnerable due to our society’s lowered expectations of their potential. Therefore, we think it is essential that the higher maximum feasible benefit standard be retained so that children with disabilities will have a level playing field.

The statement said that, even with the present law, parents in the state "constantly struggle to obtain the necessary services for their children, as documented by various federal government reports."

A state report issued several years ago could not provide assurance that children would be unharmed if the current standard was changed. It also said changing the standard would not result in more than minimal savings, the statement said.

The statement urged the Legislature to support measures to "significantly reimburse school districts for special education costs." Local school

districts now pay two-thirds of special education costs statewide and the state pays about a quarter of the costs, the statement said.

Finally, the P.A.C.E. statement advocated that the committee "maintains the Commonwealth’s 25-year practice of providing all children with an individual right to special education services regardless of where they attend school.

"We support appropriate eligibility reform to protect against misclassification of children in special education. However, we strongly advocate that these reforms continue to ensure that children with bonafide physical and hidden disabilities such as learning disabilities continue to be served, and that children in non-public schools remain eligible for Chapter 766 special education services with any change to eligibility."

The Gardner Auditorium, where the hearing was held, reportedly was filled with spectators and those who spoke on the bill. Doug Flutie of Natick, former quarterback at Boston College and now a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills in the National Football League, held a rally in the Statehouse in favor of keeping the present Chapter 766 standards.

The Fluties’ son Doug is autistic and, his father said, has been helped by special education programs.

Sen. Antonioni said the committee will try to resolve differences in three proposed education bills and report to the Legislature by the end of the month.