Districts Find Some Other Uses for Federal Stimulus Aid for Special Ed.

March 16, 2010

It was an historic influx of money from the federal government for special education. Under President Barack Obama’s education stimulus package last year Morris County schools received nearly $19 million for special education to be spent within two years.

It also meant they could free up some local funds previously earmarked for special education and fund some general education programs. Fourteen of Morris County’s 40 school districts chose to redirect some of the funding to non-special education uses, which is allowed by federal law. Although some special education advocates have expres sed disappointment with the redirection of the funds, state and local education officials said it was a fair use of the money. Districts were allowed to use up to 50 percent of the stimulus money for non-special education uses and the majority of Morris districts redirected less than that. In most cases, the redirected funds pay for programs and technology that will benefit students in both general education and special education. For example, in Mount Olive, half of its $1 million in stimulus funds were used to pay for start-up costs associated with a new program to return students with disabilities back to their home district from out-of-district placements, said superintendent Larrie Reynolds. That move in turn saved the district about $1 million in tuition and busing costs, he said. The district also decided to use $494,000 of the stimulus to both hire and keep basic skills teachers, which would benefit students in both general education and special education, he said. "The stimulus funds were designed to stimulate the economy and keep jobs," Reynolds said. "That’s what we did." Reynolds pointed out that the district already spends a significant amount of money on special education — about $14.5 million a year on special education services for about 820 classified students. Local taxpayers shoulder a disproportionate amount of special education costs because the federal government has never fully funded its mandates, he said. The Chathams K-12 district used 92 percent of its $850,000 federal windfall to install infrared wireless sound systems in all six schools that is designed to amplify teachers’ and classmates’ voices to assist students with hearing difficulties, said superintendent James O’Neill. The district redirected the rest of the federal funds, $68,500, to help pay for a classroom conversion in the middle school to accommodate a large incoming fifth grade class, O’Neill said. A lot of local money is spent on special education and O’Neill said he fe lt it was appropriate to use a small portion of the federal funds for a purpose that would benefit all students over time. About 40 percent of the school districts statewide that received $360 million worth of special education stimulus grants spent some of the stimulus funds on general school purposes, compared to 44 percent nationwide, according to survey by the U.S. General Accounting Office. Districts were always allowed to redirect the federal funds for special education in this manner, but they never received a large enough increase to make it really possible, said Kathryn Forsyth, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal statute that guarantees children with disabilities the right to a "free and appropriate" education, districts can use up to half of an annual increase to replace local tax dollars. The local dollars then can be freed up for other uses. Obama’s stimulus package included an extra $11.3 billion in federal aid for special education, more than twice what districts nationwide normally would receive. While redirecting grant money is legal, the practice disappointed some advocates for children with disabilities. They feel it wastes a golden opportunity to substantially improve the quality and capacity of special education programs, which serve 230,000 children in New Jersey. "I think what Congress intended was for districts to spend the money as start-up funds for new programs," said Brenda Considine, coordinator of the New Jersey Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform. "That’s what advocates had hoped districts would do with the money." Other special education advocates were not necessarily critical of districts’ decisions to redirect the money. ""Sometimes money spent in general education also improves the opportunity for students wit