12.14.2012 | Public News Service | “Punish the crooks, not the kids.” That’s the rallying cry of parents and advocates worried about New York’s preschool special education programs that are under an investigative microscope. The state comptroller is pursuing operators of special education providers who are accused of wasting, misspending or pocketing money. Advocates of preschool special education say finding fraud is fine. But, Kim Sweet, executive director of the group Advocates for Children of New York, says some new and proposed changes in the wake of the investigations could hinder the funding for services. “We are concerned about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The opportunity to reach children when they’re three and four is really very fleeting and if we squander it we’re not going to be able to get it back.”  Read article