Pennsylvania's funding system for special education is broken and must be fixed this year.

On March 2 and 3, 2009, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held their annual hearings on the education  budget.  Disability advocates attended the hearings, along with many other education lobby groups.

Special education was a hot topic of discussion at the hearings.  Several Representatives and Senators expressed their opinions that the current state formula (or lack of one) for special education does not provide the resources needed by their local schools.  Legislators asked Secretary Zahorchak for his opinion on this issue.  He responded by making the following kinds of statements:

(1) The issue of special education funding needs to be studied before the Department can make a recommendation for changing the system.  The Department does not have the data it needs.

(2) State investments in early childhood education and core elementary school improvements may lower the demand for special education resources without changing the formula.

Disability advocates and others disagreed with the Secretary’s responses.  Pennsylvania’s funding system for special education is broken and must be fixed this year, using a needs-based formula that counts students and considers the resources required for a quality education.