Drop in special education funding could cause trouble for Oregon
PORTLAND – Oregon state dollars for special education have decreased because of budget cuts, and now state officials are working to avoid federal sanctions.
Federal laws require states to support special education at the same level or higher from year to year or face penalties. But Oregon’s 2010-’11 special education funding is down about $19 million compared with the previous school year.
Oregon Department of Education officials hope a clause in the federal law that makes an exception for uncontrollable circumstances and unforeseen declines in state resources will help them avoid a cut in federal dollars for special education.
If the waiver request is denied, the federal government will reduce its contribution to the state by $19 million for the 2011-’12 school year – a 15 percent cut.
“A sanction at the state level would put an additional hardship on our school districts that are already struggling,” said Nancy Latini, Oregon Department of Education’s assistant superintendent for the office of student learning and partnership.
Oregon isn’t the only state considering this option. So far, at least five states – Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina, Alabama and West Virginia – have requested waivers.
Nancy Reder, deputy executive director for the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, said she’s not surprised that states are seeking the normally hard-to-get exemption. In fact, Reder said she expects to see more.
“Given the budget shortfalls of the states, I think this is a real area of concern going forward,” Reder said. “I think states are working really hard to get the funding in, but state budgets are slow to bounce back.”
Gov. Ted Kulongoski has twice ordered across-the-board state budget cuts. The Oregon Department of Education receives money to support special education programs within its department and to provide direct special education services to kids, mostly in early childhood programs, juvenile corrections or who have vision or hearing impairments.
As part of the across-the-board cuts, the education department reduced dollars for early childhood programs, hospital programs and other regional services.
Some of those cuts were mitigated with money from other areas, but the federal government doesn’t take that into account when evaluating what they call “maintenance of effort.”
If Oregon is granted a one-time waiver for the 2010-’11 school year, the state’s 2011-’12 funding must match the 2009-’10 level, not the lower 2010-’11 number. And that could be a challenge with the state government facing an estimated $3.2 billion budget gap for the 2011-’13 biennium.
“We’ve brought our legislators into the conversation already,” Latini said. “Our legislative history has been to maintain those programs. It’s not something that would typically be a barrier except in this economy.”