- December 16, 2025
Conklin: ‘I have to believe ... that (the budget makers) did not understand the consequences.’
For almost a decade, Natasha Pelczynski has been a student in Flagler County’s Adults with Disabilities program. Through the program, she secured a job at Publix — an invaluable position, according to her father, Ron. The job has taught her not only about money, he says, but also about structure and responsibility.
Pelczynski is like 247 other students in local disabilities programs, initiatives designed at preparing graduates for and helping them find real-world jobs after high school. If nothing changes in the current state budget, however, funding to all Adults with Disabilities programs will be eliminated — a possibility School Board member Colleen Conklin calls “unconscionable.”
Conklin, along with Superintendent Janet Valentine, hosted a community meeting Thursday, Feb. 23, to inform residents about the issue and rally for opposition in the Capitol. Adults with Disabilities programs include Step Up Industries, the Community Inclusion Program, the Adult Activity Center and Step Up Adult Basic Education.
“We are often in no-man’s land here in Flagler County,” Conklin said to students, parents and staff in the Step Up Facility, at the Flagler Technical Institute. She called the elimination of the program’s previously allocated $600,000 “a disgusting disconnect between local needs, local means and state wants.”
Conklin, along with Valentine, had just returned from Tallahassee, where they lobbied against the reduction. Some legislators, Conklin said, didn’t even realize the cut was happening.
“I have to believe in my heart,” she said, “that (the budget makers) did not understand the consequences.”
According to Conklin, most senators gave her and Valentine positive feedback on their visit. State Rep. Bill Proctor vowed to fight the cut. But Sen. Evelyn Lynn, Conklin said, supported the funding elimination.
“We elected the people in office that are making these decisions,” said Valentine, who tearfully reminded the crowd that when she was an exceptional-education teacher in Flagler, students with disabilities had no options after graduation. “We need to let (the state) know what the people here are thinking.”
The program also currently employs more than 20 workers.
“I think it is a great program,” Natasha Pelczynski said. “I think that if they close Step Up, a lot of people would be hurt here.”
Another student, Sheila Wetmore, agreed. “I have friends here,” she said, “a lot of friends.”
Ron Tantay, a third student, added: “When I first came in 2001, I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, ADHD. These great people helped me. … It’s amazing. I was wheelchair-bound. … Thank God for (all of you).”
Over the Senate budget, which goes into conference next week, Conklin instead promoted the House of Representatives’ budget, which includes only a 15% reduction. She said that if the group didn’t speak up, the program on which they all rely would be in serious danger.
Afterward, Ron Pelczynski explained that his daughter receives less than $600 per month in Social Security. “That’s less than the price of rent,” he said. “They can’t even afford their medicine.”
Getting worked up, he paused to pat his daughter on the shoulder when she smiled at him and said, “I’m going to be in the newspaper.”
“There are a thousand things that they can do,” he said of his daughter and her classmates. “(But) she’d be out on the street, starving to death, according to the state government.”
YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
Contact information for local representatives and senators is as follows:
Rep. Bill Proctor
904-823-2550
[email protected]
Sen. Evelyn Lynn
1-886-831-2665 or 386-238-3180
[email protected]
Sen. John Thrasher
904-727-3600
[email protected]
Sen. Audrey Gibson
904-359-2553
[email protected]
Rep. Fred Costello
850-488-9873 or 736-5100
fred.costello@myflorida house.gov
“Even if you made calls, or wrote letters, do it again, and again, and again, and again!” Adults with Disabilities parent Dottie Colletta told the crowd Feb. 23. “I thank God for this program.”
