Stimulus Funds Lavished on Sped – Even Where the Need is in Decline (CO)
December 8, 2010
Courtesy of President Obama’s economic stimulus package, special-education programs throughout Colorado are reaping a windfall in federal funding. They are enjoying increases in triple-digit percentages, even in districts where enrollment in such programs has fallen by double-digit percentages over the past five years.
In the Sheridan School District in Arapahoe County, for example, enrollment in special-ed programs fell 22 percent from 2005 to 2009. And yet the amount of federal money the district can spend on such programs ballooned by more than 105 percent between 2009 and 2010, thanks to an infusion of cash from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Likewise, Colorado Springs School District 11 saw its enrollment in special ed decline by 12 percent from 2005 to 2009, but the amount of federal money available to run such programs increased by 114 percent from 2009 to 2010. The same is true of several other districts, large and small, including those in Boulder, Jefferson County, Englewood, Littleton an d Estes Park.
A total of $148 million in onetime federal recovery money was added to the 2010 allocation of $137 million in regular special education grants given to Colorado under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, for a total of $285 million in federal funds earmarked specifically for special-ed programs.
However, the money was distributed to local school districts by the Colorado Department of Education based on the same formula used to distribute the regular IDEA funds, one that does not take into account the number of students with disabilities in each district, according to an e-mail from Charm Paulmeno, the director of student support services for CDE. The formula allocates additional funds based on a district’s total student population and students’ poverty levels–instead of the actual number of the special-ed students for whom the funds are intended.
In other words, the allocation of funds for special needs students does not reflect the actual level of enrollment in special education courses in individual school districts. That’s why Colorado Springs District 11 saw nearly the same percentage increase of federal money from 2009-2010 as did the Lewis-Palmer 38 School District in El Paso County, even though D-11’s special-ed enrollment fell by 12 percent in the past five years and Lewis-Palmer’s grew over the same period by nearly 19 percent.
Although many school districts have seen declining numbers of disabled students, others have seen increases. Overall, the number of kids enrolled in special-ed statewide has risen about 10 percent from 2005 to 2009, and federal IDEA funding has risen along with it at the same rate.
Federal dollars make up less than half of all funding for special education programs in Colorado, with the rest coming from local sources.
“In Colorado, almost two-thirds of the cost of special education is paid for with local funds,” Paulmeno wrote. “State and federal funds pay for only about 1/3 of the cost of the program.
“All administrative units benefited from the additional special education funds.”
According to the federal website that tracks recovery act grants, the $148 million infusion created or preserved 863 jobs statewide.