JoCo School’s Stand to Lose $7 Million Over Special Ed. Fund Dispute

March 16, 2010

Three Johnson County school districts would lose $7 million in special education funding under legislation passed by the Kansas Senate on Thursday.

It now heads to the House for consideration.

The money — dedicated to the special education students who cost the most to educate — was contested by other school districts. They complained that the Blue Valley, Olathe and Shawnee Mission districts exploited a loophole in the school finance formula.

“The system was abused, quite frankly,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat. “It was legal, but it was not right.”

The state gives districts extra special education money, known as “catastrophic aid,” to defray the costs of special education students whose needs are extraordinarily expensive or more than $25,000 per pupil, according to current law.

Last year, Shawnee Mission began calculating special education costs differently, adding costs for services such as busing and classroom instruction, even though those expenses are c overed by other funds.

The result: Hundreds more students qualified for catastrophic aid, and Shawnee Mission received an additional $3 million. Blue Valley adopted the same approach. Olathe school officials said they had been using that calculation since 2003.

But other districts complained. More money for Johnson County meant less for everyone else.

The legislation endorsed Thursday would take away the districts’ catastrophic aid for the current school year. Shawnee Mission would lose $3.1 million, Olathe and Blue Valley more than $2 million each.

Supporters of the legislation said it’s only fair.

But Johnson County senators defended their local districts, arguing they had permission from the state to claim the money. They noted the lost funding would only compound the schools’ already precarious financial situation.

“Have some compassion and understanding because the people who will be hurt are the kids that need those services the most,” pleaded Senate Vice President John Vratil, a Leawood Republican.

Sen. Tim Owens, an Overland Park Republican, proposed a compromise: Let the districts keep half the money they expected this school year. The Senate nixed that idea.

The bill, SB 359, also aims to cut catastrophic-aid claims by raising the threshold to $46,000. And it would bar claims for costs such as busing that are already covered.

Thursday’s vote on the bill was 33-7, with all seven Johnson County senators voting no.