Oregon May Seek Waiver on Special Education (OR)
November 15, 2010
Oregon wants to seek a waiver from the federal government toavoid cuts to special education in the 2011-12 schoolyear.
Federal special-education law requiresstates to fund special education at the same level orhigher from year to year or face penalties. But Oregon’s 2010-11 special-education funding is down about $19 million comparedwith 2009-10.
Oregon Department of Education officials say recent statewidebudget cuts are to blame. They hope a clause in the federal law that makes anexception for "uncontrollable circumstances" and "unforeseendecline in the financial resources of a state" will prevent sanctions.
If the waiver request is denied, the federal government willreduce its contribution to the state by $19 million for the 2011-12 schoolyear, a 15 percent reduction in federal money that would directly impact localschools statewide.
"A sanction at the state level would put an additionalhardship on our school districts that are already struggling, " said NancyLatini, the Oregon Department of Education’s assistant superintendent for theoffice of student learning and partnership. "This has been an exceptionalperiod of time for the state and the country. I think our leaders andstakeholders understand that. No one has been held harmless. We do have an out,an option to go after a waiver. That’s what we’d like to do."
Oregon isn’t the only state considering this option. So far, atleast five states –Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina, Alabama and West Virginia–have requested waivers.
Nancy Reder, deputy executive director for the NationalAssociation of State Directors of Special Education,said she’s not surprised that states are seeking the normally hard-to-getexemption. In fact, Reder said, she expects to see more.
"Given the budget shortfalls of the states, I think this isa real area of concern going forward," Reder said. "I think statesare working really hard to get the funding in, but state budgets are slow tobounce back."
With Oregon facing declining revenue projections throughout thesummer, Gov. Ted Kulongoski twice ordered across-the-board state budget cuts.The Oregon Department of Education receives money to support special-educationprograms within its department and to provide direct special-educationservices to kids, mostly in early childhood programs or juvenile corrections,or who have vision or hearing impairments. As part of the cuts, the statereduced funding to early childhood programs, hospital programs and otherregional services.
Some of those reductions were mitigated wi th money from otherareas, but the federal government doesn’t take that into account whenevaluating what it calls "maintenance of effort."
The funding allocation was reduced, and that puts the state’sfuture funding at risk.
In 2009-10, Oregon set aside about $350 million in state special-education services for school-age kids. For 2010-11,the number dropped to about $332 million. For state early childhood programs,Oregon allocated $11.5 million in 2009-10, and the number dropped to $10.4million in 2010-11.
State education officials have begun meeting with other stateleaders and district superintendents, and will meet with special-educationadvocacy groups and other stakeholders over the next two months before making afinal decision. But Latini said they’d like to begin the official waiver processin January.
Each state’s request and circumstances are evaluatedindividually, but states must show in their application that special educationisn’t taking a larger percentage reduction than other state programs. And eachstate also has to discuss its history of meeting federal compliance guidelinesand report annual performance data. And even if a state is approved, federalofficials say, they may monitor those states more closely to ensure thatstudents with disabilities are receiving a fair and appropriate publiceducation.
If Oregon is granted a one-time waiver for the 2010-11 schoolyear, the state’s 2011-12 funding must match the 2009-10 level, not the lower2010-11 number. And that could be a challeng e with the state government facingan estimated $3.2 billion budget gap for the 2011-13 biennium.
"We’ve brought our legislators into the conversationalready," Latini said. "Our legislative history has been to maintainthose programs. It’s not something that would typically be a barrier except inthis economy."