Advertisement

Thurston County superintendents say state must step up to fund special education

As superintendents of Thurston County school districts, we feel compelled to comment on bills under consideration this legislative session for special education funding.

In 2018, the Legislature made a good faith effort to fix the broken education funding system that historically benefited some districts and not others. While the solution known as the “McCleary fix” created its own set of winners and losers, it did result in significant increases in public education funding overall. However, it did not address a critical part of our educational system: special education. Tackling the issue of fully funding services for our most vulnerable children was put off for another day.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal has been clear about the urgency of the problem. Prior to this session, he requested just under $1 billion from the Legislature over the next biennium to address the need.

There are two key flaws to the current special education funding model that create this problem and make it worse each year.

First, there is an arbitrary cap set by the state that only provides funding for up to 13.5% of the students receiving special education services. If a school district has 1,000 students who qualify for special services, funding is provided for 135 of them, but no more. Every Thurston County school district is above the 13.5% threshold, and some significantly so. We have to turn to our local “enrichment” levies to pay for those services. Special Education is not “enrichment.” It is required through a federal law and is a civil right.

The second defect in the funding system is something called the “multiplier.” The multiplier is used to determine the increase in funding for each student receiving special services above basic education funding. It is meant to cover the costs of additional services for that child. But many students have extensive needs that require additional staffing, technology, medical care, curriculum and other supports that are not covered by the multiplier. As a result, school districts again have to dip into their enrichment levies to cover those costs. Thurston County school districts are forced to use millions of local levy dollars for special education that were never meant for that purpose.

We entered this legislative session filled with hope. We had heard suggestions and pledges that this would be the year when this issue would finally be addressed. Original House Bill 1436, endorsed by the state Superintendent, was legislation that would have made huge strides in addressing the problem. Frustratingly, it was gutted before it went to a vote. The surviving Senate Bill 5311 is a modest step that will leave us dipping deeply into our local levies for the foreseeable future.

Until the Legislature and the Governor truly address the funding needed to properly serve students with disabilities, local school districts will be left to pilfer from other funding sources to meet their duty to serve all families. Other programs will be cut to cover the cost of something that is a paramount duty of the state. The Legislature has acknowledged that special education services fit the definition of basic education. The Legislature also acknowledges that current bills will knowingly underfund special education by significant amounts. This is not meeting the paramount duty.

And therein lies the worry we have as district leaders in shining light on this issue. Families with students with special needs should not be blamed for the fiscal strains placed on our systems. Make no mistake, students with disabilities bring beauty, creativity, diversity, joy and immeasurable other contributions to our schools. Our learning communities would be lesser places in their absence.

It took six years in court to get to the McCleary decision. We hope another legal battle is not necessary. Our students and families can’t wait that long. The moral imperative is now.

Greg Woods, Griffin School District

Jennifer Bethman, Rochester School District

Debra J. Clemens, North Thurston Public Schools

Clint Endicott, Tenino School District

Patrick C. Murphy, Olympia School District

Carole Meyer, Tumwater School District

Bryon Bahr, Rainier School District

Brian Wharton, Yelm School District