New Formula for Special Education Funding

As the weeks progress closer to Pennsylvania having a 2012-13 state budget, the Legislature has also been looking at ways to make the current funding system for school districts more accountable and fiscally responsible.

One area the General Assembly has been focusing on is special education funding, which hasn’t been tackled since the Administration of late Governor Robert P. Casey. By law, schools are required to provide special education for any student who needs it, regardless of cost. This can be as simple as a classroom aide or something more complex as a specialized school in a different town with 24-hour care.

Last year, there were 270,288 students statewide who qualified for special education services. Furthermore, special education comprises one of the largest components of school districts’ spending. This issue is one that needs further examination, especially as the number of students with special needs is increasing.

The allocation each school district gets every year to assist students with special needs is based on a formula that has been around since 1991. This outdated formula assumes that each district has 16 percent of its total enrollment for special education, regardless of whether the schools have more or less students for that year or any other additional cost factors. Because of this archaic formula, many school districts and their taxpayers are left to make up the differences in funding to provide these services. Furthermore, the formula also does not focus on strategies that have a track record for improving student performance.

As you will see (in the document attached to this column), every school district’s numbers are unique, therefore, the current funding formula is not as fiscally fitting or appropriate.

On June 4, the Senate passed Senate Bill 1115 (SB 1115) which would move Pennsylvania away from the flat funding method for special education and instead charge a 12-member commission with determining a new funding formula based on actual student count that receive special education services, local cost and tax factors. Three categories—high, middle and low need—would also be used when determining the formula. This will ensure that school districts would properly be reimbursed due to variations in educational expenses for students with disabilities who need different intensities of services and support since some costs are pricier than others. The state Board of Education would then be required to draft regulations imposing the new funding formula after the commission finished its report.

The commission will have four months to compile information if this would become law and a new formula would apply only to funds that the state invests in special education beyond the $1 billion it has spent for the past four years. The General Assembly would decide in each year’s budget how much to appropriate for special education, and then the new formula would be used to figure out how much each district receives.

SB 1115 also sets up an incentive program in 2013-14 for school districts to improve their special education services, provided state funding is available. The program would grant extra cash to districts that improve “inclusion” rates by getting more special education students into regular classrooms. Schools would also have to meet federal testing benchmarks for students in the special education category to receive this additional funding.

To prevent schools from attempting to secure more funding by over-identifying special education students, SB 1115 authorizes the state to review districts with large increases in special education population to ensure the allocation goes only to those who need it the most.

If SB 1115 becomes law, the commission would meet and hold public hearings every five years to review the operations of the formula. The legislation is now before the House Education Committee.

Due in large part to current budget restraints, this legislation is necessary to begin to explore how we can better the way schools receive funding for services they provide. As you can see in the chart, no two school districts have the same need when it comes to special education services. Although the chart only demonstrates my district, consider what a chart would look like for all 501 school districts across Pennsylvania.

SB 1115 has provisions that ensure accountability standards and strengthen the requirements for districts to implement better special education strategies while also reimbursing districts properly and efficiently. As taxpayers, we need confidence that the education investments we are providing to students with disabilities are being made based on such things as research, proven best practices and careful planning. A flat formula no longer proves to be the most effective approach or fiscally feasible.

Senator Wayne D. Fontana

42^nd Senatorial District

www.senatorfontana.com