Schools Urge State Help With Special-Ed Costs (PA)

May 4, 2010

Testifying before a panel of Republican state legislators at the Spring-Ford School District’s Ninth Grade Center last week, Spring-Ford and Pottstown school district administrators called on Pennsylvania to help meet the growing costs of special education programs.

Spring-Ford Superintendent Marsha Hurda joined the Pottstown district’s director of special education and student services, Pam Bateson, and business manager Linda Adams, in appearing before members of the House Republican policy committee in a hearing that focused on costs, governmental mandates and best practices in special education.

Hurda told the GOP legislators that her district offered a broad range of special education services, including learning, emotional, autistic, life skills and speech and language support. She added that Spring-Ford had 1,619 special education students, 113 special education teachers and 130 assistants.

Citing statistics to show the growth in Spring-Ford’s special education programs, Hurda said the district last year had 27 students whose programs cost over $75,000, compared to just one in 2000-01. She also testified that Spring-Ford was anticipating spending more than $21.3 million on special education in 2010-11.

According to Adams, about 20 percent of the Potttstown district’s enrollment of 3,100 students had been identified as special needs children. She said the district spent $11.5 million on special education, out of a total budget of $53 million, in 2008-09.

"At the same time that we are seeing increases to our special education population, we are also seeing significant changes with regard to state and federal laws governing public education for these students," Hurda told the panel.

She said that, with each reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, "additional protections and rights for students and their parents were added. Instead of focusing on equal access for students as earlier laws did, these pieces of legislation now address the quality of special education programs and have led to major changes in a the way public schools must serve their special needs children."

Hurda also said the federal No Child Left Behind law had "had a tremendous impact" on school districts, requiring them to initiate programs to make sure special needs students would be able to perform well on standardized tests in reading, math and science.

Meanwhile, Hurda said, state and federal funding for special education had not kept pace with the increasing special education costs Spring-Ford was experiencing. According to her, state and federal funding had increased b y a total of $538,078 between 2004-05 and 2008-09, while the actual expenses to the district had grown by $5.07 million.

"As a result, Spring-Ford has been forced to use local tax revenue to make up the difference," Hurda said. She testified that the district was expecting that the cost to taxpayers for special education programs next year would be $17 million.

Bateson told the panel that Pottstown’s special education costs had increased by 15.74 percent since 2006, but that state subsidies had grown by only 10.88 percent.

She said that the costs of meeting state Department of Education requirements "is ultimately a disservice to disabled and nondisabled students, as Pottstown and other districts like us are unable to provide opportunities on par with districts who are better funded and who serve students and families who present with fewer risk factors associated with poverty."

Bateson added, "We are asking that changes be made in funding allocations and regulations, to alleviate the burden that school districts bear, and to ensure that all students, no matter what district they live in, have an equal educational opportunity."

Hurda testified that, without state help, it would not be possible for Spring-Ford to maintain its current special education programs.

"The projected increase for next year’s state special education budget is, I believe, zero," she said. "If the state budget does need to be reduced, I urge you to do what we do every year at our budget time — make cuts to the area of your budget that will not adversely affect the future of all of our children."

The administrators f ielded questions from the panel members, which included Reps. Thomas Quigley, R-148th Dist., and Mike Vereb, R-150th Dist., among others.

In concluding remarks, Rep. Stanley Saylor, R-94th Dist., who was presiding over the hearing, said that the fact the state probably was looking at a $1.2 billion deficit "spells bad times for special education." He added that it was necessary to make sure that tax dollars were being spent wisely.

Jerry Oleksiak, treasurer of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and Andrew Faust, an attorney representing the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, also offered testimony.