PA_students_with_disabilities_deserve_better

OP-ED: Pa. students with disabilities deserve better

Updated: 07/15/2010 01:12:15 PM EDT

There’s been a lot written recently about a piece of legislation that would create new state laws for special education funding and accountability.

Let’s be clear: The reforms in House Bill 704 are needed because special education was left out when the General Assembly enacted basic education reforms in 2008. Students with disabilities should not be left out of these important reforms and deserve better. These children have waited long enough for the state to pay attention to their needs. The Senate should act before the end of the year to consider and approve HB 704.

Under HB 704, state funding for special education will be distributed based on the actual needs of students and schools. Schools will be held accountable for effectively investing these resources, without creating excessive bureaucracy or paperwork requirements. HB 704 also revises the reforms made for basic education to better match the needs of the special education system and to reflect the lessons learned since 2008. These are huge steps for improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities.

But what does it mean?

For the last two years, no formula was used to distribute special education funding to Pennsylvania’s public schools — school districts received the same funding they received the prior year, regardless of any change in the number of students with disabilities or other cost factors in the schools. The formula used for the past 16 years — from 1992 to 2008 — mistakenly assumed that 16 percent of all students in each district need special education.

Many districts have a percentage that is higher than this. For example, York City, Hanover Public and West Shore school districts report more than 18 percent of their students require special education services.

The new formula established under HB 704 will solve this problem in a fair manner. State funding will be distributed based on an objective formula that takes into consideration actual student counts, local cost and tax factors, and variations in educational expenses for students with disabilities who need different intensities of services and supports.

But this isn’t just about money. It’s also about strengthening the accountability system to provide confidence to taxpayers that education investments for students with disabilities are being made based on research, best practices, careful planning and transparent reporting.

Despite these huge improvements proposed in HB 704, some have criticized the bill for also containing a requirement that no school districts will receive a cut in funding.

One reason for including this requirement is that no bill — even very good ideas like HB 704 — can receive approval in the General Assembly if it cuts funding for some while increasing funding for others. Redistributing the wealth isn’t popular in the Capitol.

This is unfortunate, but it’s political reality. On balance it makes sense for the General Assembly to approve HB 704, even with the hold harmless provision. Here are four reasons why:

First, the state contributes only 32 percent of total spending for special education. The federal government pays only 14 percent. Nearly all schools need more special education funding to relieve local tax pressures, although some need a lot more than others.

Second, since 2003 the annual increase in state funding for special education has averaged only 1.7 percent per year. This has not kept pace with overall inflation (more than 3 percent growth per year), with medical sector inflation (nearly 10 percent growth per year), or with increased numbers of Pennsylvania students with disabilities (2.6 percent growth per year).

Third, the number of students is just one factor in the funding system under HB 704. Some districts with fewer students but higher poverty and higher property taxes may actually need and receive slightly more funding under the legislation.

Fourth, the state funding system for special education has been broken for so long that the current levels received by each district bear no relationship to the needs of the students in that district. The most important priority is to fix the system. State officials can monitor the new system over time and adjust the distribution formula to better match local needs.

Ultimately, the new formula and accountability system in HB 704 looks ahead, not back. No formula by itself can solve all of the problems faced by school districts and their students with disabilities.

For example, strong advocacy will be needed in future years to encourage the General Assembly to match annual funding levels with changes in the number of students needing special education and with the rising cost of providing the services and supports needed to help them succeed in school.

Equally strong advocacy will be needed to ensure that scarce state resources are not siphoned off every year to provide undeserved increases to school districts with falling special education costs. We hope that many legislators will oppose unjustified funding increases in the future, even if they continue to demand no cuts.

The funding and accountability reforms in HB 704 will make these protections and improvements more likely over the long run.

Our schools can do much better and our children deserve better. Everyone in Pennsylvania benefits when students with disabilities receive an education preparing them for meaningful employment, higher education and self-sufficiency.

– Baruch Kintisch is the director of policy advocacy for the Education Law Center.

David Mekeel: Changes to special ed-funding needed

For two decades, public school districts have received state funding for special education the same way.

State Rep. P. Michael Sturla hopes to change that.

The Lancaster County Democrat has authored a bill that would fundamentally change special-education funding – eventually.

“The system has basically been flawed since it was changed 20 years ago,” Sturla said. “It makes the incorrect assumption that 16 percent of all students across the board have special needs.”

Right now, all 500 school districts are given special-education funding based on 16 percent of their student population. But while 16 percent of students in the state are in special education, Sturla said, the distribution of those students isn’t uniform from district to district. Passed by the House about two weeks ago, House Bill 704 would instead divvy up special education funds on more of a case-by-case basis.

The main change would be that districts would get funding based on the actual number of special-education students in the district, not simply a generalized 16 percent.

“The funding would reflect the actual numbers and the needs of an individual school district,” Sturla said.

The new system also would financially reward districts for successfully showing that students with moderate needs have improved enough to no longer need services.

Worried that such incentives could lead to districts playing the system, the bill calls for penalties for districts that mainstream students and can’t show that the students no longer need services, Sturla said.

While special-education funding has been a long-fought battle for Sturla – he’s been working on it for 15 years – he knows that his new bill isn’t a quick fix. To get it through the House, he said, the bill had to stipulate that the new funding formula would apply only to new money.

“It will probably take 10 years for everything to balance out,” he said.

And since special-education funding hasn’t gone up in the past few years, and likely won’t for the next year or two, it could be awhile until the bill’s impact is felt.

And, Sturla added, the state Senate doesn’t seem to be in a rush to act on the bill because no new special-education money is on the horizon. But Sturla says now is the time to act, so that when new money is available, a fair, sensible system is in place.

Originally Published: 7/9/2010

Changes to special ed funding needed

Contact David Mekeel: 610-371-5014 or dmekeel@readingeagle.com.

State funding for special education was not cut for 2010-11. Every school district will get the same state funding it received in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Your advocacy on House Bill 704 deserves credit for protecting this line item in the budget, which avoided the cuts absorbed by most other programs. Of course, you are well aware that the high inflation rate for many special education services and programs threatens the needs of children even with “flat” funding.

The quick resolution of the budget means that there was not enough time for the sponsors of House Bill 704 to negotiate with the Senate about approving the special education reforms. We will work over the summer so that the Senate can promptly hold hearings and vote on HB 704 in September.

Thank you for hanging in there for a couple of extra months. With your help, we should see our legislation signed into law while the flowers are still blooming in September and before the leaves start falling from the trees.

Check back here for updates during July and August. Click on the links in the right margin to read the summary of the changes made in HB 704 as the House voted to approve the bill in June.

Let us know what else we can do to support your work.

Special_ed_funding_change_passes_in_Pa._House

Read the full story:

Special ed funding change passes in Pa. House

ANDREW SHAW | The York Dispatch

Updated:06/28/2010 01:04:41 PM EDT

Special education funding reform is now before the state Senate after a bill that would greatly change the funding formula was passed by the House.

The House last week overwhelmingly approved a bill, 173-25, that would move Pennsylvania away from a flat funding method.

State Rep. Will Tallman, R-Reading Township, was the lone York County dissenter.

Tallman said he supports increased special education funding but believes the state is adding too much additional oversight.

School districts have been getting special education funding based on the assumption each district has 16 percent of its total enrollment in special education. That formula has been in place since 1991, according to state Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, who developed the bill.

Under the proposed legislation, school districts would receive funding based on the number of special-education students they have, as well as on factors such as district poverty level.

A district can’t have its funding decreased as a result of the bill — there’s a measure to prevent that, even if the district has less than 16 percent of students enrolled in special education.

The General Assembly would decide in each year’s budget how much to appropriate for special education, and the new formula would be used to figure out how much districts get.

York City School District would likely be the biggest winner if the bill is passed, as its poverty and special education level — nearly twice the 16 percent rate — would greatly increase funding.

The bill is now before the Senate.

State Sen. Pat Vance, R-Cumberland, said she has many questions about how issues of “over-identification” will be dealt with.

Over-identification is the concern that districts could, in theory, identify more students as having special needs in order to get more money.

The bill includes a call for the state to conduct reviews of districts that have large increases in special-education numbers.

Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, the education committee chairman, said he has not looked at the bill in depth enough to comment.

Help provide services: The bill has a three-tier system in how districts can classify their special-education students for funding purposes, so that districts with more students with more extreme needs are eligible for additional funding.

Schools are already required to provide special-education services for any student who needs them, regardless of cost, whether that means a classroom aide or a specialized school in a different town with 24-hour care.

Some districts just don’t have the funding for that or can only offer bare essentials, and, unless a parent can successfully sue them, the child might not get the proper services, said attorney Baruch Kintisch.

Kintisch is the director of policy for the Education Law Center, a Philadelphia-based legal advocate group promoting the rights of public school children. The bill would help solve those inequities, he said, and get better funding to schools.

“They just can’t do everything they want to for the students with disabilities. It’s heartbreaking,” Kintisch said.

– Reach Andrew Shaw at 505-5431, ashaw@york dispatch.com or twitter.com/ydblogwork.

It’s about time

Sunday, June 27, 2010

By BRIAN WALLACE, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal Staff Writer

The state House has approved a new funding formula for special-education services, but the bill doesn’t include the mandated funding increases hoped for by some school officials and advocates for the disabled.

In fact, the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Mike Sturla of Lancaster, said state special-ed subsidies are likely to be frozen at 2008-09 levels for the next two years.

What House Bill 704 would do is assure that whatever money is available for special-education services each year goes to the school districts that need it most, Sturla said.

The legislation, approved last week by a 173-25 vote, would replace a 19-year-old funding formula that assumes all school districts have the same percentage of special-education students — 16 percent.

Using that formula, the state awards an additional subsidy — this year it’s about $3,500 per pupil — for each special-education student.

For years, school officials have complained that the formula is inequitable, penalizing districts with larger percentages of special-needs pupils and rewarding those with fewer students.

HB 704 would base the subsidies on the number of special-education students with mild, moderate or severe disabilities enrolled in each district over the previous three years.

It would guarantee that districts receive at least as much funding as they received in the previous year.

And it would require schools to provide documentation each year of how they use state special-education funds.

Currently, districts must file reports only once every three years.

Missing from the legislation is any reference to how much money districts will receive.

An earlier version of the bill called for establishing a base special-education funding level and increasing that by about $32 million per year to fill a $380 million special-ed funding gap identified in a 2007 “costing-out” study.

That would have brought about $1.8 million in additional subsidies to Lancaster County schools in the first year.

But that provision was stripped from the bill, Sturla said, because of the state’s economic woes.

Pennsylvania expects to end the year with a $1.2 billion deficit, and it made no sense to mandate funding increases the state can’t deliver, he said.

Special-education funding was frozen this year at 2008-09 levels, and Sturla predicts no increases for 2010-11 and possibly  2011-12.

Prior to this year’s funding freeze, increases were below the rate of inflation, ranging from 1.3 percent to 2.7 percent.

Meanwhile, special-education costs have skyrocketed.

In Columbia Area School District, expenditures surged by 43.5 percent from 2005-06 to 2009-10, rising from $2.3 million to $3.3 million, said Laura Cowburn, assistant superintendent for business services.

Over that same period, Columbia’s state subsidy for special education grew by just $59,000, or 5.3 percent, she said.

Lawmakers are aware that special-education services are underfunded, Sturla said, and he expects more state money to be pumped into the pipeline once the economy recovers.

“We’re funding such a pitiful amount of the cost of special education that no one with a straight face could say we’re adequately funding it,” he said.

Even without the prospect of an influx of additional money in the short term, school districts like Columbia, with a special-education population ranging from 21 percent to 23 percent, stand to benefit from the bill.

So does School District of Lancaster, where just under 20 percent of students are identified as special-needs pupils.

Urban districts tend to have a higher percentage of students requiring special-education services and are required to provide the services regardless of state funding levels,  said Carole Clancy, SDL’s director of special education and health services.

“As a result, the burden falls upon our taxpayers to fill the gap in funds.”

More equitable funding “will allow us to provide more support to our teachers, which will allow us to provide more support to our students,” she said.

“It definitely provides a sense of optimism in this tight budget time.”

Sturla said he doesn’t expect the state Senate to take up the bill until after the Legislature adopts the 2010-11 budget.

The earliest the new formula could take effect would be the 2011-12 school year.

Administrators hope bill will bring fairness to special education

By Amy Crawford
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 24, 2010

Click here to see how your representative voted.

Together, we made this happen when everyone else said it couldn’t.  Let’s keep working and see if we can get the bill passed into law with the state budget by mid-July.

Stay tuned for further action steps.

For now, please consider the following immediate actions:

(1)  Call or e-mail your state representatives and thank them for voting for HB 704.  They are currently in their Harrisburg offices.  Find their contact information here.

(2)  If you have not signed our online petition, this would be a good time to do so.

(3)  Consider adding your comments about HB 704 on our online discussion page.

Your tireless efforts are most appreciated.

This was not the final passage of the bill, but was something called “second consideration.”  However, Tuesday’s vote was the biggest hurdle.  And you did it!

The vote on final passage will be after 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Watch here.  The bill is expected to be overwhelmingly approved on final passage, although some representatives may vote against it.

Thank you for all of your wonderful efforts in support of special education funding and accountability reform.  Together, we all played a big role in making this happen.  Every phone call and e-mail was heard, and added up to a powerful voice on behalf of children with disabilities.

There are a few next steps before HB 704 is enacted into law.  We want the bill to be adopted by the full General Assembly along with the budget this year, which could take place by the middle of July.

We will let you know about those next steps over the next few days.

For now, please consider the following immediate actions:

(1)  Call or e-mail your state representatives and thank them for voting for HB 704.  They are currently in their Harrisburg offices.  Find their contact information here.

(2)  If you have not signed our online petition, this would be a good time to do so.

(3)  Consider adding your comments about HB 704 on my online discussion page.

Thank you for proving that collaborative action can make positive things happen.  Let’s keep up our efforts until HB 704 is signed into law.

Education bill needed
GREG KNOX

Elected officials in Harrisburg are demonstrating that they certainly can act as responsible public servants. In a time of political turmoil, that’s a very good sign.

What is bringing out the best in our leaders in the state Capitol? A bill addressing the educational needs of students with disabilities — House Bill 704.

This bill shouldn’t have a chance, given the difficulties of state government in these days. But the bill is only days away from being approved by the House of Representatives and moving on to prompt consideration in the Senate.

In a time when partisan tensions are common, HB 704 has 66 cosponsors from both parties and was approved by a bipartisan vote of 22 to 3 in the House Education Committee.

In a time when the energy of our commonwealth is most often focused away from improving the day-to-day lives of vulnerable citizens, HB 704 implements practical reforms that will improve teaching and learning for children with disabilities and thus give them an opportunity for a brighter and more independent future.

In a time when the word “funding” is a dirty word in the State Capitol, HB 704 has the courage to repair the state funding system for special education affecting students with disabilities. The bill fixes the system for distributing state dollars, although it neither contains nor requires any increases in state or local dollars in 2010-2011.

In a time when state and federal policy makers are more often equating “education reform” with radical top-down mandates that dictate one-size-fits-all changes — such as the federal Race to the Top Grant Program or state reauthorization of the Education Empowerment Act — HB 704 takes the different approach of strengthening existing accountability systems by requiring increased cooperation between local and state education officials.

The reforms in HB 704 are needed because special education was left out when the General Assembly enacted Basic Education reforms in 2008. Under HB 704, state funding for special education will be distributed based on the actual needs of students and schools and will remain at 2008-09 levels until the economy recovers.

The existing special education funding and accountability system in Pennsylvania is broken. No formula has been used since 2008-09. The formula used from 1992 to 2008 mistakenly assumed that 16 percent of all students in each district need special education. Most districts have a percentage that is higher or lower than this. In addition, the Pennsylvania Department of Education collects three-year special education plans from all school districts but real accountability is lacking. HB 704 addresses these problems.

Students with disabilities are struggling in most Pennsylvania schools and need special education reforms to have a chance for success in school and in life. There are more than 270,000 students in Pennsylvania who are receiving special education services. That’s more students than the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh school districts combined. These students have a high drop-out rate and low scores on state assessments. The national unemployment rate for adults with disabilities is 71 percent. Yes, 71 percent. Our schools can do much better and HB 704 includes needed reforms.

The reforms proposed by HB 704 are needed in York County. Several school districts in the county have high numbers of students with disabilities. For example, more than 18 percent of all students in York City, Hanover Public, and West Shore school districts require special education services. Without the reforms in HB 704, these and other districts — already with high property taxes — will continue to struggle to pay for expensive special education programs and may need to cut corners.

Everyone in Pennsylvania benefits when students with disabilities receive an education preparing them for meaningful employment, higher education, and self-sufficiency. The General Assembly should move Pennsylvania one giant step closer to meeting these obligations by approving HB 704 before it adjourns for the summer.

For more information, see www.ReformSpecialEdFunding.org.

The Arc of York County is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with intellectual and other disabilities and their families.
Greg Knox is the executive director of Arc of York County.

Education bill needed