Every school district will receive the same state funding for special education as in 2008-09.  See a detailed spreadsheet here.  This is a major victory, as nearly all other education line items were cut.
In addition, every school [...]]]> State funding for special education was not cut for 2009-10.

Every school district will receive the same state funding for special education as in 2008-09.  See a detailed spreadsheet here.  This is a major victory, as nearly all other education line items were cut.
In addition, every school district is receiving lots of new federal stimulus funding for special education services and programs. Your efforts over the last 14 months helped to protect special education resources.

Together, we advocated for a new state system for special education funding and accountability.  Our voices were heard and cuts were avoided, even in this historically tough budget year.  Thank you for helping to make this happen.

In a normal year, our bills for funding reform would have been adopted in the School Code Bill along with the annual budget.  This year’s School Code Bill, House Bill 11, contains Representative Sturla’s version of our reform legislation (HB 704).  Even though the General Assembly has not finished acting on the School Code Bill, we expect it to be adopted — and to contain our special education reforms in HB 704 — by the end of 2009.  The legislature just had too much trouble agreeing on the budget to be able to handle the School Code Bill at the same time.

Bottom line — special education funding was not cut and we remain on track to adopt HB 704 by the end of the year.  Note that our Senate companion bill, Senator Dinniman’s SB 940, also remains ready for action.  Together, these two bills have attracted 80 bi-partisan co-sponsors.  We even succeeded in negotiating with the Rendell Administration to get their support for making improvements to these bills.

Going forward, we must continue to work closely together and advocate aggressively in order to achieve the reforms we have sought.  There are some in the legislature who may still resist fixing the state system for special education funding and accountability.

Also:

• See a summary of the current contents of our reform legislation.
• See ELC’s summary analysis of the 2009-10 state budget adopted last week.

When: Wednesday, August 19 (Pittsburgh);  Thursday, August 20 (Southeast PA); Wednesday, September 2 (Lancaster).
DETAILS BELOW.

The Arc of PA, the Disability Rights Network of PA, [...]]]> What: Briefing and Planning Sessions on State Reform for Special Education Funding and Accountability

When: Wednesday, August 19 (Pittsburgh);  Thursday, August 20 (Southeast PA); Wednesday, September 2 (Lancaster).
DETAILS BELOW.

The Arc of PA, the Disability Rights Network of PA, the Education Law Center, and Good Schools PA are hosting three regional special education funding reform briefings and planning meetings.  Please mark the dates on your calendar and plan to be part of these interactive sessions.

UPDATE.  The news is very good, thanks to your hard work and dedication.  HB 704 is Representative Sturla’s bill — “our” bill — for special education funding and accountability reforms.  The bill has made it all of the way into the annual School Code Bill (HB 11) that is usually adopted with the state budget.  The House Education Committee has now voted twice to support HB 704.  Governor Rendell also recently decided to support HB 704.  If the legislative leaders can wrap up their negotiations for the budget, HB 11 (including HB 704) should be adopted in the next few weeks.

We hope you will join us to discuss these developments and our crucial next steps on August 19, August 20, and September 2.

The agenda will be the same at all three locations across the state.  It is as follows:

(1)     Looking back and evaluating our efforts in 2008-09;
(2)     Planning our next steps for advocacy in 2009-10;
(3)     Discussing other related issues, such as inclusion and over-identification; and
(4)     Figuring out how to strengthen our advocacy work and our coalition.

Please share this email with other advocates and organizations who may like to attend and participate in the meeting.

It would be very helpful if you could RSVP your attendance to SZelno@elc-pa.org (Pittsburgh); kwoii@aol.com (SE PA); and ellenrbb@dejazzd.com (Lancaster).

We look forward to seeing you.
As always, call or email with any questions. Thank you in advance.