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Priority State Budget Alert: Special Needs Scholarship Program and Special Education Open Enrollment
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 31, 2017
SAA Members,
I understand that your students are about to walk through your door for their first day of school, and I know that you are extremely busy to say the least. Given that, please know that I would not issue a legislative alert at this time were it not absolutely necessary. There is one holdover issue from this week’s K12 State Budget action that requires your immediate attention.
As reported to you earlier this week, the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is scheduled to take up the Special Needs Scholarship Program on Tuesday, September 5th. We believe that issues involving Special Education Open Enrollment will also be under consideration.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has proposed major changes to the way we determine the payments made by the resident school district for the Special Needs Scholarship Program and Special Education Open Enrollment. The only language we have seen on these proposals is from the memo on the Assembly GOP Education Package dated June 6, 2017. (See item #23 and item #27 in the Assembly GOP Education Package for more information on these proposals). Make no mistake about it, these proposals would be major changes to policy. And, the proposals are likely changing behind the scenes.
Below is the briefest of outlines of the Assembly GOP proposal:
Special Needs Scholarship Program (MAJOR CHANGE TO POLICY)
- Change the payment amount for a pupil attending a private school under the SNSP, from current law set amount ($12,000 in FY17), to an amount that reflects actual costs incurred by the private school to implement the child’s most recent IEP or services plan. [We assume this would begin in 2018-19, but not specified.]
- The proposal details specific responsibilities of the school district in preparing an itemized cost statement, and the Department’s responsibilities in making a determination of actual costs (based on cost data submitted by the private school) and reconciling the aid reduction to the pupil’s resident school district.
Open Enrollment – Special Education Pupils (MAJOR CHANGE TO POLICY)
- Similar to provisions for SNSP, change the payment amount for a pupil who has an IEP and who is open enrolled to a non-resident school district, from current law set amount ($12,000 in FY17), to an amount that reflects actual costs incurred by the nonresident school district to implement the child’s most recent IEP. [The memo does specify that this would begin in 2018-19.]
- The proposal details specific responsibilities of both the resident and nonresident school district in preparing an itemized cost statement, and the Department’s responsibilities in making a determination of actual costs (based on cost data submitted by the nonresident school district) and reconciling the aid reduction to the pupil’s resident school district.
- A stakeholder-developed payment model has only been in place for one year, and there has been no analysis done as to how the system is functioning.
I urge SAA members to contact the 16 members of the Joint Finance Committee, as well as your own legislators, in opposition to these proposals as soon as possible. Legislative leaders will be discussing these proposals between now and next Tuesday morning so it is vitally important that you act soon. For your convenience, I have provided links to the Senate Directory, the Assembly Directory and Find My Legislators. Phone calls work as well.
In your communications, please consider using the following points:
- There has been no analysis done of the impact of these proposed changes on school districts throughout the state.
- All special education stakeholders (including SAA, WASB and disability rights advocates) are opposed to these proposed changes. (See the collective memo issued by stakeholders earlier this summer expressing our concerns about these proposals).
- These proposals have not been vetted by stakeholders or by experts.
- If careful analysis finds that technical changes are needed in the way we determine the payments for these programs impacting some of our most vulnerable students, we should carefully craft an alternative considered by stakeholders and experts.
- Ramming an unvetted proposal through the state budget at the 11th hour is not a thoughtful way to craft effective policy.
Thank you for taking action on this issue, and thanks for all your efforts on behalf of Wisconsin school children.
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