DETAILS
- Lawsuit Ruling & WSSEC Recommendations
- Court's Opinion in Special Ed Lawsuit
- Amicus Declaration of Washington State Special Education Coalition
- WSSEC Public Policy Chair Comments on Special Ed Funding & Current Trial
- Letter on Sp. Ed. Funding Structure
- Response to Letter on Sp. Ed. Funding Structure
- Presentation for House Appropriations
- Fall 2004 Status Report
- Comments on Special Education Lawsuit
- August 2004 Letter
- Open Letter to Superintendents, Citizens and Legislators
- Response to Attacks on Special Ed.
Response to Letter on Sp. Ed. Funding Structure
Feb 17, 2005
Bill Fromhold, Chair, House Subcommittee on Ed Finance Structure
The special education funding structure consists of allocations based on an assumed average cost, a cap or index on sp ed enrollment as a percentage of total enrollment, and access to a safety net. In considering potential changes to this structure, I looked for points of agreement among dist representatives, the Wa State Sp Ed Coalition and the OSPI as expressed in her sp ed budget proposal.
We should not make any fundamental changes to this structure for now, as my recommendations below reflect. However, we should make some changes to a few of the key funding drivers to create additional capacity within the cap/index and to make the safety net process more accessible. More fundamental changes should be considered only after thorough and careful consideration so as to minimize the impacts of any unintended consequences on school districts, the state, and most importantly, students and their families.
In addition, questions concerning our excess cost accounting methodology and the application of that methodology by districts need to be addressed. And finally, as we learned from testimony, IEP's are the cornerstone of sp ed in that they specify the services that will be provided to each sp ed student based on individual needs. We should help districts take advantage of technology that can promote consistent and efficient development and maintenance of properly formulated IEP's.
With these points in mind, strong consideration should be given to the following:
- Changes in the existing structure:
- Eliminate local maintenance of effort requirement (line 25) as a barrier to accessing the safety net.
- In addition to the current high cost category, add a safety net category for percentage enrollment or some other alternative to deal with high concentrations of medium-cost students.
- Create additional capacity within the current enrollment index by removing 3 and 4 year olds from the calculation.
- JLARC and the Office of the State Auditor should examine current sp ed expenditure reporting requirements and districts' application of those requirements and recommend ways of making the accounting system more transparent.
- Any changes to the existing funding structure should be informed by the results of the JLARC/OSA (SAO)study and should be developed by a Task Force made up of legislators, advocates, district representatives, SPI, sp ed experts and the Governor.
- Funding should be provided for a web-based IEP development system.