Oregon Special Education Dollars Decrease (OR)
November 15, 2010
Oregon state dollars for special education have decreased because of budgetcuts, and now state officials are working to avoid federal sanctions.
Federal special education law requires states to support special educationat the same level or higher from year to year or face penalties. But Oregon’s2010-11 special education funding is about $19 million down compared from theprevious school year.
Oregon Department of Education officials hope a clause in the federal lawthat makes an exception for uncontrollable circumstances and unforeseendeclines in state resources will help them avoid a cut in federal dollars forspecial education.
If the waiver request is denied, the federal government will reduce itscontribution to the state by $19 million for the 2011-12 school year _ a 15percent cut.
"A sanction at the state level would put an additional hardship on ourschool districts that are already struggling," said Nancy Latini, OregonDepartment of Education’s assistant superintendent for the office of studentlearning and partnership.
Oregon isn’t the only state considering this option. So far, at least fivestates _ Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina, Alabama and West Virginia _ have requestedwaivers.
Nancy Reder, deputy executive director for the National Association of StateDirectors of Special Education, said she’s not surprised that states areseeking the normally hard-to-get exemption. In fact, Reder said she expects tosee more.
"Given the budget shortfalls of the states, I think this is a real areaof concern going forward," Reder said. "I think states are workingreally hard to get the funding in but state budgets are slow to bounceback."
&l t;p>Gov. Ted Kulongoski has 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 education servicesto kids, mostly in early childhood programs, juvenile corrections or who havevision or hearing impairments.
As part of the across-the-board cuts, the education department reduceddollars for early childhood programs, hospital programs and other regionalservices.
Some of those cuts were mitigated with money from other areas, but thefederal government doesn’t take that into account when evaluating what theycall "maintenance of effort."
If Oregon is granted a one-time waiver for the 2010-11 school year, thestate’s 2011-12 funding must match the 2009-10 level not the lower 2010-11number. And that could be a challenge with the state government facing anestimated $3.2 billion budget gap for the 2011-13 biennium.
"We’ve brought our legislators into the conversation already,"Latini said. "Our legislative history has been to maintain those programs.It’s not something that would typically be a barrier except in thiseconomy."