Dr. Forys Letter Concerning Special Education Lawsuit
TO: Parents, Students, and Other Interested Parties
RE: The Crisis in State Special Education Funding
Washington State’s current special education funding system is broken. It is based on outdated funding models. The models fail to recognize the real costs incurred by school districts in order to provide special education students with the kind of educational opportunities that are legally required today. As a result, school districts across the state, including Northshore, are facing a fiscal crisis.
Under Washington law, the state must fully fund basic education. State courts have interpreted basic education to include special education. Under the current system, the state is not meeting this constitutional obligation. As a result, school districts are obligated to spend more and more local levy dollars to fund special education programs and services for which the state is legally required to pay -- almost $109 million statewide in the 2003-04 school year. In Northshore, during that year, we spent $4.69 million in local levy dollars to fully fund special education; 33 percent of our special education expenses were not covered by the state. This, in turn, means that there are fewer levy dollars available for programs that benefit all students.
Over the past year, our school district, along with many others, has worked with the Governor, the Legislature, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to try to find a solution to this problem. Although many of the elected officials realize that the state needs to address Washington’s special education funding crisis, their plans do little to alleviate it. Most of the additional dollars in the 2005-07 Budget for special education has been funneled into the state’s safety net system. This program is intended to provide funding for extremely high-cost students in special education. Thus, only a limited number of students can benefit from it. Unfortunately, in order to receive state safety net funds, districts have to apply on a student-by-student basis. It is an expensive, inefficient application process that does not provide reliable funding upon which districts can plan their budgets.
In order to advocate for the interests of students and to promote more efficient uses of existing funds, we joined with many other districts in a lawsuit against the state to try to force it to address these problems. We are scheduled to go to trial this October. In 1977 and 1983, legal actions against the state resulted in court findings that our state constitution required reform of educational funding. We believe that now, again, the state must be compelled to satisfy its constitutional obligation to provide adequate funding for education. Furthermore, we believe that existing funding sources may be reallocated to more efficiently address student needs.
We are extremely concerned that without appropriate state action, the funding crisis will worsen significantly. The number of students in special education is increasing statewide. Because the Legislature has placed a 12.7 percent cap on the number of students in special education who are eligible for additional funding in any district and because special education students already account for 13.47 percent of Northshore students, an ever-increasing number of students will receive no special education funding from the state. Furthermore, additional federal requirements for special education, including those contained in the No Child Left Behind Act, are making special education more expensive. Thus, time is of the essence.
In addition to the lawsuit, we have continued to work with legislators and have pursued appropriate advocacy efforts to try to advance our goals. We plan to continue our efforts on both of these fronts. We believe that a combined strategy will best serve our educational system and our state’s children.
We ask you to support our efforts to improve educational funding for all children.
Thank you.
Karen A. Forys
Superintendent
RE: The Crisis in State Special Education Funding
Washington State’s current special education funding system is broken. It is based on outdated funding models. The models fail to recognize the real costs incurred by school districts in order to provide special education students with the kind of educational opportunities that are legally required today. As a result, school districts across the state, including Northshore, are facing a fiscal crisis.
Under Washington law, the state must fully fund basic education. State courts have interpreted basic education to include special education. Under the current system, the state is not meeting this constitutional obligation. As a result, school districts are obligated to spend more and more local levy dollars to fund special education programs and services for which the state is legally required to pay -- almost $109 million statewide in the 2003-04 school year. In Northshore, during that year, we spent $4.69 million in local levy dollars to fully fund special education; 33 percent of our special education expenses were not covered by the state. This, in turn, means that there are fewer levy dollars available for programs that benefit all students.
Over the past year, our school district, along with many others, has worked with the Governor, the Legislature, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to try to find a solution to this problem. Although many of the elected officials realize that the state needs to address Washington’s special education funding crisis, their plans do little to alleviate it. Most of the additional dollars in the 2005-07 Budget for special education has been funneled into the state’s safety net system. This program is intended to provide funding for extremely high-cost students in special education. Thus, only a limited number of students can benefit from it. Unfortunately, in order to receive state safety net funds, districts have to apply on a student-by-student basis. It is an expensive, inefficient application process that does not provide reliable funding upon which districts can plan their budgets.
In order to advocate for the interests of students and to promote more efficient uses of existing funds, we joined with many other districts in a lawsuit against the state to try to force it to address these problems. We are scheduled to go to trial this October. In 1977 and 1983, legal actions against the state resulted in court findings that our state constitution required reform of educational funding. We believe that now, again, the state must be compelled to satisfy its constitutional obligation to provide adequate funding for education. Furthermore, we believe that existing funding sources may be reallocated to more efficiently address student needs.
We are extremely concerned that without appropriate state action, the funding crisis will worsen significantly. The number of students in special education is increasing statewide. Because the Legislature has placed a 12.7 percent cap on the number of students in special education who are eligible for additional funding in any district and because special education students already account for 13.47 percent of Northshore students, an ever-increasing number of students will receive no special education funding from the state. Furthermore, additional federal requirements for special education, including those contained in the No Child Left Behind Act, are making special education more expensive. Thus, time is of the essence.
In addition to the lawsuit, we have continued to work with legislators and have pursued appropriate advocacy efforts to try to advance our goals. We plan to continue our efforts on both of these fronts. We believe that a combined strategy will best serve our educational system and our state’s children.
We ask you to support our efforts to improve educational funding for all children.
Thank you.
Karen A. Forys
Superintendent
posted by Mike at 7:30 AM
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