(Kern County) Grand Jury says special education underfunded

Ridgecrest, Calif. —
The Sierra Sands Unified School District spent nearly $4.14 million for special education, and nearly $421,000 came from the district’s general fund, according to a just-released Kern County Grand Jury report. The district also spent nearly $11,000 for transportation.
The report said the children of California are entitled to a free and appropriate education by court and legislative mandate.
“Like many mandates, the mandating authorities do not fully fund the mandated services,” the report stated. “In 2010-11, the Kern County Grand Jury studied all of the school districts in Kern County to determine costs above and beyond the funds that come to them from the state and federal governments for special education.”
The report also shows the cost of legal fees spent on special education, the amount spent on transporting special-education students and the amount not reimbursed by the state.
The purpose of the inquiry is to make Kern County residents aware that the state of California mandates programs but does not fully fund them.
The report shows that needed services for the district’s special-education programs are not adequately funded by the state and federal government who have mandated them and much of the funding has to come from the districts’ general funds.
“In no way does the committee imply that the funds spent on special education are not necessary,” the report stated. “The committee has investigated the costs of special education to each district, including transportation and legal matters. The committee feels that mandated programs should be funded to meet the mandates, instead of taking money from the funds used to educate all students in the district.”
The committee sent two questionnaires to all of the school districts in Kern County and asked for information pertaining to the funding of special education, worked with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to determine the information necessary to complete the study, and spoke to the directors of special education in several districts as well as the superintendents of several districts to determine that the questionnaire was asking for appropriate data.
Special education is the process of educating children with special needs such as physical or developmental handicaps including the blind and partially sighted, the deaf and hard of hearing, the mentally impaired, those with serious physical handicaps, autism, attention deficit disorder and others with less common disorders or multiple disabilities.
The committee takes as an axiom that when a program is mandated, it should have funding to implement the requirements of the program. The federal government mandated special education since 1973, but the mandate has never been fully funded.
According to the Grand Jury report, California was funding 56 percent of the cost, the local districts approximately 36 percent, and the federal government only 8 percent in 1995.
“As costs rise, which they do yearly, and the state and federal dollar amounts remain approximately the same, and a greater percentage of the funds come from local general funds which are meant to educate mainstream children in the district,” the report said. “School districts are further constrained by the mandate to provide a continuing equivalent level of special education services known as maintenance of effort.”
The questionnaires identified approximately 15,330 special-education clients in Kern County. These are individuals identified by having individualized educational programs and may range from preschoolers to 22-year-olds.
The jury said the total cost of the program for the districts of Kern County is nearly $185.4 million, which includes slightly more than $112.7 million in state and federal funds.
The amount taken from the general funds is nearly $43.5 million.
Other sources of income can include grants, carryover, one-time appropriations and varies by district.
The cost of legal fees connected with special education for the 2009-10 year was $503,959.
The extra expense for transportation for special education is slightly more than $10.1 million.
“The committee hopes to make the public more aware of the hardships born by school districts that financially bear the burden of special education funding,” the report stated.
The Grand Jury recommends sending the report to Kern County state legislators, the California Superintendent of Public Instruction and the governor.
The jury also recommends school districts advocating for better funding for their special-education programs.
A response is required within 90 days.

http://www.ridgecrestca.com/news/education/x1932923482/Grand-Jury-says-special-education-underfunded