Presentation for House Appropriations

Cecile Lindquist, Past President
Christie Perkins, Public Policy Chair

Prior to the establishment of committee, at least three studies were done from '89 - '94.
Independent consultants hired to work with committee.
Data & research collected from around the state, as well as from other states.
Stakeholders represented: Parents, advocates, teachers,business managers,
superintendents, other administrators, agency staff and others.

Improvements were made over the years as a result of local district personnel
and others serving on the Safety Net Committee.
Safety Net Committee meets 5 times a year.
Advocates became increasingly concerned about confusion and inconsistencies
from district to district.
2001 - Legislature established requirement that all districts use same accounting
system for Safety Net Application.

1st one based on number of kids in a certain category, to fund one teacher
(excess cost model)
2nd one based on ABCD formula, later added E category (Full Cost Model)
Law Suit (Doran III) filed against Full Cost Model - Civil Rights.
Decision allowed state to use a formula, but recognized some districts would
be over-funded and some would be under-funded and there was a need for Safety Net
in combination with formula.

Excess cost funds = basic ed allocation X .9309.
Funds for each special ed student are BEA + Excess Cost dollars + federal funds + medicaid.
Formula is easy for all to understand.
This model is thought to be the most fair and has the least financial incentive
for labels or "place" of service delivery.
Funding index (not "cap") identifies amount of funds automatically sent to districts.
Safety Net available to those in need.
As a whole, no one should have lost money, although special ed allocation looked
smaller because of elimination of back-out.

Advocates agreed to form, but requested a review in a couple of years.
In 1994, the state had "backed out" an average of 45% of basic ed money and it had to be spent on special ed.
The current form is used to calculate the percent of special ed teacher's salary to be paid out of basic ed.
2003/04 advocactes found less than 20% of basic ed dollars could be accounted for as having been spent on special ed students.
The "new" requirement of a consistent accounting system has not given us the information needed.
There is no transparent, revenue to expenditure accounting system required of districts with regard to basic ed funds.
There is no way to tell where the money generated by special ed students is spent.
Coding inconsistencies are found again and again.
Special ed students are being charged for more than their fair share of indirects and NERC's.