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It’s simple: The state must meet its obligation
A Message from Dr. Don Helmstetter, Superintendent I am continually asked by non-educators if I can explain what the “Special Education funding problem” is all about. I will try.
For a long time, elected officials and educational leaders have asserted that the federal government has not fulfilled its obligation regarding the funding of Special Education. Unfortunately, and even more devastatingly, the State of Minnesota hasn’t fulfilled its obligations either. As a result, school districts have had to use their general fund revenues to pay for federally- and state-mandated Special Education services.
When schools must use non-Special Education funds to pay for much needed but costly Special Education services, it is often called a “cross subsidy,” and that cross-subsidy has now reached a statewide gap of over $500 million dollars. That is equivalent to a loss in services totaling nearly $600 per student.
While this is not a new concern, it has reached crisis proportions since 2003, when Governor Pawlenty and the Legislature struggled to balance the state’s budget. They “solved” their problem, in part, by capping Special Education funding for Minnesota school districts. Clearly, that was intended to be a short-term fix, but, in reality, it was never an effective fix of any length of time.
As a consequence, the state reimbursement amount has subsequently stayed the same for schools, even though the cost of services has actually doubled during that time. This has led to an under-funding of twenty-one cents for every dollar of service. Worse, this gap will grow to thirty-five cents over the next four years according to legislative analysts. How have these costs doubled?
According to Minnesota Department of Education Finance Specialist Tom Melcher, there are a number of valid reasons why Special Education costs have grown in so short a time. First, there are more autistic students receiving services. The number of autistic students receiving services in Minnesota has increased by 5,600% over the last ten years!
Secondly, there are more medically fragile students requiring services in our schools, including some students whose needs require a personal full-time nurse all day, every day. In addition, more time in the day is required for these students to receive Special Education services.
Finally, there are more charter schools, that bill their direct costs back to the home districts. Ironically, school districts must serve the charter schools, even though the districts know that they are losing twenty one cents for every dollar of service! No private business could survive a law like that. The Spring Lake Park School District has a cross-subsidy totaling nearly $2 million each year—equivalent to the first of our two operating levies. That levy had originally been approved to help provide additional programs and technology for our students. Now it simply helps support services and programs that otherwise would have been lost.
The state must fully fund the Special Education Bill, because the cross-subsidy is growing, and it needs to stop before it begins to pit parents against parents. Realistically, school district costs grow between 3-5% per year in Minnesota. The Spring Lake Park School District has an annual growth rate of approximately 3.5%. Parents and taxpayers have a right to ask the question: “Can schools operate more efficiently?”
The answer, as always is not simple, but it is transparent. In fact, to answer that question, our school district has undertaken external audits of every major department in the district. Here is a part of that answer: K-12 education is a service-oriented “business,” and providing education to students of varying abilities and backgrounds, requires effectiveness even more than it requires efficiency.
Most proposals for school improvements recommend choice options, and I support that. But each proposal also usually emphasizes a greater level of individual options, and that invariably results in more costs, not less. The Spring Lake Park School District continues to strive to provide a transparent, effective, and responsive process, so that its residents can be sure their tax dollars are being invested as effectively as possible.
Along with the entire school district staff and School Board, I am here to serve. I will continue to provide the community with updates on student achievement and success, as well as on our challenges. Our schools, our students, and their individual needs for success is everyone’s responsibility.
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