Special education requirement could derail budget plans
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Steve Lutzke
ORFORDVILLE — School districts cutting employee wages and benefits fear they’ll be forced to buy things or hire people they don’t need to meet federal minimum-spending requirements, two area superintendents said.
Federal rules require districts to maintain the same level of special education spending from year to year. But in districts such as Parkview, all teachers—including special education teachers—are taking a pay cut next year and are beginning to contribute to their retirement and health insurance.
The result is less money going into special education, which could put the district in violation of the federal requirement.
“We automatically won’t be spending as much on special education because we’re paying all our employees less,” Parkview Superintendent Steve Lutzke said.
The federal government has some exemptions, “but one of them is not government-mandated pay cuts,” he said.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction officials have discussed the issue with the U.S. Department of Education, but neither department can make changes to the requirement, said Rachel Zellmer, a federal fiscal monitoring consultant with DPI.
The requirement, called maintenance of effort, is part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and only Congress could approve an amendment, she said. DPI has made no formal requests to Congress for an amendment, but Zellmer advises school districts to contact their representatives.
If a district spent $100,000 on special education this year, for example, and salary and benefit cuts reduce the expense to $70,000 next year, the district would have to find a way to make up the $30,000 drop to keep spending $100,000 on special education, Zellmer said.
“That’s why some districts are in a panic because there’s also a cap on the revenue limit, so you have to find those costs somewhere,” she said.
The penalty for not meeting the requirement is to pay the amount of the spending reduction to the government, she said. The district in the above example would be required to fork over $30,000.
A district is better off spending the money on something rather than paying the penalty without any return, Zellmer said.
It’s an unintended consequence of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, local school officials say.
“The only way to fix it is to spend more money,” Lutzke said.
Teachers and staff at Parkview will begin contributing to their retirement and health insurance costs and taking a 2 percent pay cut starting this summer. Those cuts to special education staff leave Parkview about $100,000 shy of meeting the requirement, he said.
He wonders if it means the district needs to “hire someone to make up that difference or go buy a bunch of stuff we don’t need,” but it’s not like the district has money to do that, either.
DPI officials this week plan to send out a list of options school districts could consider that wouldn’t require hiring additional staff or making unneeded purchases, Zellmer said. Those options will consider the flexibility within federal rules to transfer costs or give extra general education services to students with disabilities, she said.
DPI also developed a calculator for districts to determine if they’ll meet the requirement.
“Right now, most districts are very concerned that they’re not going to be able to prove maintenance of effort,” Lutzke said. “We’re all scrambling and looking to DPI for guidance on this.”
In Brodhead, teachers will begin paying half of their retirement and 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums starting July 1.
“When we save a bunch of money on salary and benefits, that allows us to spend less, but the feds don’t want us to spend less … I’m not sure what the answer is going to be yet,” Superintendent Chuck Deery said.
He said the law had a good intent—encouraging school districts to spend local money on special education and not rely only on federal funding—but the unintended consequences created a weird situation.
He doesn’t know the financial impact in Brodhead yet, but he said a “fairly significant amount of money” goes to special education.
The Janesville School District does not have this problem, at least not yet, said Barb Hilliker, director of special education.
Hilliker said she is monitoring the situation to make sure staffing levels match the need.
Janesville teachers are protected from the effects of the budget repair bill until their contract runs out in 2013.
Sep 3, 2011 at 9:51 a.m.
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It looks like Okiefed has completely disappeared. I'm glad I didn't get irritated by him.
Sep 2, 2011 at 8:45 p.m.
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This "mess" is to me a perfect example of how totally screwed up our government is at both state and national level. They are basically measuring level of effort based on money spent. Does anyone else see a problem with this? By the same token, the USA should be the lowest in infant mortality rates in the world since we have the highest spending per capita on health care. Yet we just slipped from 29th to 41st best. Shameful. If you are doing something as well or better with less money spent, it is totally stupid to spend extra money because of some idiotic measurement system. It is small wonder that this country is in such a sorry state since this is just one of many areas where "quality" is measured based on total money spent instead of by results achieved. IMO
Apr 22, 2011 at 8:24 a.m.
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"It’s an unintended consequence of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, local school officials say."
OR instead of immediately assuming it is the fault of the Wisconsin Budget- maybe it's the unintended consequence of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA started out with a high percentage of FED money with State/Local money matching and as the FED requirements and range of services grew, the percentage changed, creating a bigger and bigger drain on the States and the Locals. During this same time period, the % age of students 'found' to have a disability grew and grew as the number of catagories also expanded. This law has needed some serious minded revamping for years, but that initiative always dries up in the face of emotional parental testimony, becoming a 'sacred cow' in the educational budget.
Apr 21, 2011 at 6:57 p.m.
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i feel sorry for you okiefed. your life apparently has never been touched by someone with special needs. institutions?? if i used the words i wanted to regarding that thought my comment would be deleted so ill just ask you...if the special needs child is born to low income parents...who would foot the bill for the institution??
Apr 21, 2011 at 5:37 p.m.
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So okiefed WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Hide them in institutions? So are you afraid of severe CD (cognitive disable)children? Have you ever even taken time to get to know them or there families? If you can believe some of the children are much smarter than you think,they just may not be able to express themselves. Children with genetic and birth injuries such as MD and CP can be very smart and very productive and can hold jobs and go to collage. So would you do away with Early Childhood too. This is also in the Special Education spectrum?
Apr 21, 2011 at 2:06 p.m.
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MY SON WAS IN THE SPECIAL EDUCTION SYSTEM SINCE HE WAS IN THIRD GRADE. AT THAT TIME HE WAS DISCOVERED TO HAVE A READING DELAY AND CLASSIFIED AS LD OR A LEARNING DISABILITY. HE HAD A IEP AND EXTRA HELP ALL THROUGH SCHOOL.HE WAS CONSIDERED TO HAVE A HIDDEN DISABILITY,HE LOOKED AND ACTED LIKE ALL THE REST OF THE STUDENTS. HE GRADUATED FROM PARKER IN 2010. HIS TEACHERS SAID HE WAS ONE OF THE SUCCESS STORIES. HE WAS A STARTER ON THE VARSITY FOOTBALL TEAM AND HE WAS ON THE PARKER SWIM RELAY THAT WENT TO STATE! HE IS A STUDENT AT BLACKHAWK TECH IN THE FIREFIGHTING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. BUT CURRENTLY HE IS IN ARMY NATIONAL GUARD BOOT CAMP AT FORT SILL OK. AND IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE TOP RECRUITS. SO WHERE ARE YOUR KIDS?? THE TALENTED AND GIFTED ARE ALSO COME UNDER THE BANNER OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM. THEY ARE ALL CONSIDERED ENN OR EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION NEEDS. I ALSO WORK WITH THE MOST SEVERE CHILDREN IN THE JANESVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND LET ME TELL YOU THEY ARE THE MOST AWESOME STUDENTS AROUND! THEY LAUGH AND ARE HAPPY MOST OF THE TIME. OH YEAH ALL THE SPECIAL ED STUDENTS AT ONE TIME DID ALL GO TO ONE SCHOOL IT WAS CALL "GLEN OAKS" AND IT WAS LOCATED ON HWY 51 NORTH. THE BUILDING NOW HOUSES THE ROCK COUNTY HEALTH DEPT.
Apr 21, 2011 at 1:30 p.m.
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NOT EVERYTHING is obama's fault. As was pointed out this was signed by busch.... but it's easy to lay blame on current people in office.
Apr 21, 2011 at 12:52 p.m.
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It is every bit as horrible to have kid not reach his full potential as it is to have a kid not achieve basic fundamentals. Spend where you get the most for your money. Special ED. is never cut. Gifted and talented programs are always on the block.
Apr 21, 2011 at 12:43 p.m.
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"It’s an unintended consequence of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, local school officials say."
*
Way to go, Scotty! School districts didn't cause this mess, and school districts can't afford to pay for it. The state legislature will just have to allocate funds to pay these penalties. Let's call it the Madison-Washington connection. Sending money to Washington shouldn't be too hard for the Walker administration to do, since Walker already sent back money intended for the proposed high-speed rail connection between Milwaukee and Madison.
Apr 21, 2011 at 11:49 a.m.
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Sandman-you are correct. The stupidity of this is absurd. Federal and local govt's spend 10 x's the amount trying to educate the lowest performing 10% of students as they do educating the highest performing 10% of students.
Apr 21, 2011 at 10:21 a.m.
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Special ed...the biggest feel-good waste of money in the school system, and just another excuse for the non-performance of far too many students.
Oh well, at least if keeps a hoard of special ed teachers off the streets!
Apr 21, 2011 at 6:23 a.m.
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Time to beam scotty to another planet.
Apr 20, 2011 at 10:45 p.m.
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are the federal rules so strict that if 100% of the special needs students suddenly moved out of the district that the taxpayers would still be forced to spend the same as the previous year? get real. ignore the rule.
Apr 20, 2011 at 9:17 p.m.
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Well why don't they just ignore the rule? A federal judge has ruled Obamacare unconstitutional but they just ignored the ruling. A judge has also ruled the moratorium on off shore drilling lifted, but He has ignored this order. What keeps us "the little people" from ignoring the federal government?
Apr 20, 2011 at 9:05 p.m.
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As the story relates, just have Congress introduce an amendment. It's insane that the Federal government requires seriously in the red districts to spend money they don't have. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised though.......while everyone in the real world is stressing efficiencies and developing ways to do more with less, our good old government is still living in fantasyland thinking that it's completely acceptable to continue spending like a drunken sailor..........
Apr 20, 2011 at 8:47 p.m.
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I wonder which "tool" he expects districts to use to "fix" this...
Apr 20, 2011 at 7:12 p.m.
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How is Scotty going to fix this? Oh that's right, it isn't his problem, it is up to the district to fix it. Good example of how we just end up paying for the "savings" in his repair bill in another way.
Apr 20, 2011 at 6:20 p.m.
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"In Brodhead, teachers will begin paying half of their retirement and 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums starting July 1." Did Brodhead have any program or teacher cuts? Or does this alone fill any budget gap for them? Just curious.
Apr 20, 2011 at 5:56 p.m.
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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed 95-3 by the Senate, 397-3 by the House, and signed by George W. Bush on 12/3/04.
Apr 20, 2011 at 5:11 p.m.
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Obama's fault.
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