FINANCE: A POLICYMAKERS PERSPECTIVE Michael W. Kirst Former - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

SPECIAL EDUCATION FINANCE: A POLICYMAKERS PERSPECTIVE

Michael W. Kirst Former President, CA SBE and Professor Emeritus, Stanford

Trends in Special Education Finance

 Expenditures increasing- up 20% in CA in last decade  Majority mild disabilities like speech, but severe disabilities doubled in the last 20 years in CA  Autism In CA increased from I in 600 students in 1998 to 1 in 50 in 2018  Federal Government promised 40% , but only pays 10% of total expenditures  Federal law with many constraints last renewed in 2004  Maintenance of effort encourages separate funding systems

Trends in Special Education Finance

 High identification of minority and low-income students  Special education students lag behind in student outcomes  Significant recent increase in preschool student services  Many agencies (mental health, vocational rehabilitation) help fund student services, but not sufficiently  Parents and their lawyers clash with districts concerning needed services, least restrictive settings, etc.

Basic Special Education Finance Problems

 Finance is a means to end for better education services and

• utcomes

 Need to align state finance with best practice local education improvement and services into one coherent system  Very few school finance experts focus on special ed and school finance literature is separated between mainstream school finance and special ed  General and special ed often have different finance distribution formulas and weights in many states  Large finance weights for special ed students by disability can create incentives for excess identification of students  An alternative is to use per pupil or per capita formulas, but they do not adjust for more expensive student needs, and may discourage more costly early intervention

Basic Special Education Finance Problems

 Start with overall state policy goals and alignment and then move on to finance design-“all one system”  It is difficult to provide finance adjustments for small urban

• r rural districts with many students with severe disabilities

 Some states provide risk pools, fund these districts directly,

• r utilize regional service providers

 Other approaches to equity provide more money for low income, foster care, homeless pupils because disability is correlated with these conditions

Choices and Decisions For Improving Special Ed Finance

 Decide whether state finance objective is “adequate funding” or merely improving current financial support and effectiveness  Is state formula a broken historical accretion that needs a major overhaul, or is the current funding approach in need

• f repair?

 What can states learn from each other-does state population size matter?  Process to involve parents, and other stakeholders in new special ed finance system  How to integrate special ed finance with state accountability (e.g., A-F ratings, dashboards) and state systems of support for local improvement under ESSA

Initial Steps In A Finance Study

 Understand how the current finance system works from state to local level including for preschool, charters, virtual schools et  Examine how finance system helps student transitions from preschool to elementary, and secondary school to postsecondary education  Decide how to adjust for low incidence high cost disabilities such as using weights, and districts/schools with high poverty concentrations  Decide how much state needs to guide and modify local district control of services delivery (e.g., IEPs)  Simulate amount each district gets from various options for state formulas and distribution system

Initial Steps In A Finance Study

 Decide what the role (if any) regional entities should play in allocation of money and education support to local districts  Analyze your past use of state categorical set asides for such as: professional development, mental health, MTSS, employment training, etc.  Consider how general education and special education relate to each other from your total state policy change