Madison Schools Hold Their Own in Special Education Technology

January 21, 2010

While the Department of Special Services at the Madison Public Schools receives federal funding, that funding pays for only a portion of the federally mandated needs budgeted by the district.

 “One hundred percent funding (from the federal government) would have funded districts at 40 percent,” said Nancy Novak, director of special services for the grades K-12 district, at the Board of Education meeting Tuesday, Jan. 12.

“We never saw more than 18 percent of what was to be full funding,” Novak noted.

During her presentation, Novak detailed where funds are coming from and where they are going.

The funds are legislated by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was created in 1975 and calls for funding only a portion of the special education needs budgeted by each public school district.

Stimulus Money

Last year, with help from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the district received additional stimulus money.

This year, 50 percent of the ARRA money would be going toward special education funding, Novak said.

“Half of that money was given to support special education staff and help critically to offer services we need without reductions to staffing,” she said.

The other half would go toward one-time cost initiatives, Novak said.

“This was a two-year grant for this year and next year.

“The idea was: Don’t start programs you won’t be able to support with local funds because that wouldn’t really make s ense. So the idea was to use it for technology, for staff development, for increasing local capacities to handle certain situations, so that these were seen as one-time investments rather than ongoing costs,” she said.

New Technology

Novak described other uses of the money, mainly on technology and consulting services. In addition to laptops for the third grade, other uses of the money went to 350 licenses of Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology (FASTT) Math, math software that helps mastery in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division through a game. The program will be used three days a week for 10 minutes a day, Novak said.

Another software, SOLO, is a literacy tool that is used for writing, word prediction, reading back text, and has a draft builder which allows for graphic organizers. The read-back software is available to students for home use.

Novak also said funds are going toward continued training for staff, including for Wilson Reading, which aids students who have a mild to moderate deficiency in spelling proficiency, and working with students with Asperger Syndrome and high-functioning autism.

Special education instruction accounts for 5.6 percent of school district’s budget.

For the 2009-10 year, it was anticipated that the district would pay $2,095,402 in special education costs out of a $34 million budget.

The proposed budget anticipated $1,141,469 in state aid.

The district’s Special Education Department is located in the grades K-5 Central Avenue School with full-time and part-time programs accommodating between 16 to 24 preschool disabled children in the district, according to last year’s figures.