{"id":16599,"date":"2017-03-12T22:49:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T04:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=16599"},"modified":"2017-03-12T22:49:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T04:49:08","slug":"special-ed-in-uphill-fight-to-find-funding-in-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/03\/special-ed-in-uphill-fight-to-find-funding-in-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Special ed in uphill fight to find funding in Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Seth\"<\/a>

Freddy Monares\/UM Community News Service<\/p>

Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, at right, with beard, has introduced a bill that would create a savings account program for special-needs students.<\/p><\/div>\n

HELENA \u2014 The main state budget bill at the Montana Legislature passed first reading last week with some surprises, including\u00a0the restoration of \u00a0$11.5 million to higher education funding.<\/p>\n

But one area has consistently struggled to find funding throughout the first half\u00a0of the 65th Montana legislative session\u2014special education. Funded through a combination of federal dollars and state funds, special education has seen minimal increases in state funds, leaving local and federal dollars to pick up the slack, according to a report by the legislative school funding interim committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seven bills addressing special ed funding have been introduced by three different legislators this session. All but two of them have been tabled or killed. Only House Joint Resolution 1<\/a>, which would request an interim study on the subject, has been signed into law.<\/p>\n

The bills deal with various matters,\u00a0from providing inflationary increases to special education to allowing students with disabilities to remain in school until age 22.<\/p>\n

As with other programs that are facing cuts in a tight budget this session, the problem boils down to a lack of funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mind, it\u2019s more of a federal government problem they need to be solving,\u201d said Rep. Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton. \u201cThey\u2019re capable of doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballance is the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which is in charge of reviewing and passing House Bill 2<\/a>, the state\u2019s budget. Rep. Tom Woods, D-Bozeman, proposed an amendment that would have written an inflationary increase for special ed funding of nearly 2 percent into the budget by fiscal year 2019. The amendment ultimately failed on a vote of 9-13.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get $43 million a year from the federal government,\u201d Ballance said. \u201cIf we add that inflation factor, it\u2019s going to get to a point where we can\u2019t fund everything in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballance doesn\u2019t deny there are issues with special education in the state. Representatives from both sides of the aisle have proposed funding measures for special-needs students, but their approaches differ.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cI believe that every person here knows that this has to be funded,\u201d said Rep. Moffie Funk, D-Helena. \u201cSome maybe feel it a little more urgently than others, but it\u2019s a given in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funk sponsored House Bill 253<\/a>, which would put special education funding in line with schools\u2019 ANB funding, or \u201caverage number belonging,\u201d which ties a school’s funding to the\u00a0number of students. Currently, special-needs students receive funding separately from general-education students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI argued, this way we don\u2019t have to come back each year and figure out how we\u2019re going to pay for special ed,\u201d Funk said.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the bill said HB 253 was necessary for the continued support of those programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 24 years in education, I feel the adequacy of special education funding is at a tipping point,\u201d said Lisa Lowney, a special education administrator in Helena. \u201cTo meet the mandates of special education services, we are having to reduce opportunities for general education students, causing an equity issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric Feaver, president of MEA-MFT, the teachers union, said legislators could have solved many of the problems involving\u00a0special education with HB 253.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can make some of the rhetoric go away if you adopt this bill,\u201d Feaver said during the hearing.<\/p>\n

However, Funk\u2019s bill did not make it past first reading. A motion to \u201cblast\u201d the bill out of committee and onto the House floor also failed.<\/p>\n

Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, took a more individual-based approach with House Bill 423<\/a>. The bill, the only other on special education that is still alive, would create a savings account program for special-needs students, and would allow parents to take the amount of money allotted to their child by the state and use it for alternative special education programs.<\/p>\n

\"Kelker\"<\/a>

Freddy Monares\/UM Community News Service<\/p>

Rep. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, proposed to provide inflationary increases for schools and special education cooperatives.<\/p><\/div>\n

Berglee\u2019s bill faced criticism for removing funds from existing special education programs. But he said he doesn\u2019t see how it would detract from other students.<\/p>\n

He said finding \u201ccreative solutions\u201d to the state\u2019s special education problems won\u2019t weaken the ability of other students to receive their allotted funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible, I think, to have a system that completely fixes it or makes everything right,\u201d Berglee said. \u201cI think he best thing to do is find options that work for the majority of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, took a different approach, attempting to provide inflationary increases for both schools and special education cooperatives. Two of the bills, House Bills 31<\/a> and 33<\/a>, would have funded schools and cooperatives separately. House Bill 32 provided increases for both.<\/p>\n

Kelker said cooperatives generally serve rural communities, and struggle because they receive funding only from grants, rather than taxes, like schools that offer special education services.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them are actually at the brink of bankruptcy. They just couldn\u2019t provide the services,\u201d Kelker said. \u201cIf that would happen, it would mean the individual small, small districts would have to do all their special ed stuff themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelker said that would require\u00a0schools to hire instructors to educate special-needs students themselves, which could mean hiring one teacher for a very small number of students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf special education isn\u2019t funded appropriately, it\u2019s a mandated service, so the school districts dip into their general fund and pay for special ed,\u201d Kelker said. \u201cThus, depriving the general population of kids the benefit of having what was in the general fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Bill 32 passed second reading on the House floor, but was tabled in the Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n

Kelker also introduced House Bill 274<\/a> to allow students with disabilities to remain in school up to age 22. It was also tabled in committee.<\/p>\n

She said allowing students with special needs to remain in school would allow them to retain the skills they have learned, which would make them better suited to entering the workforce than if they graduated at age 18.<\/p>\n

During a committee hearing on the bill, several parents and individuals with disabilities testified on the potential benefits of the legislation.<\/p>\n

Keith Gilyard, of Belgrade, whose son has Down syndrome, said the bill would help his son get the education he needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always going to be a little behind, but he\u2019s not that far behind,\u201d Gilyard said. \u201cHe could potentially reap the benefits of a bill like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same hearing, Meredith Scully, the founder of Cottonwood Day School for special-needs students in Bozeman, said her students are determined to learn, and could use the support the bill would have provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery child can learn despite their challenges,\u201d Scully said.<\/p>\n

Kelker said that while most of these bills are unlikely to pass this session\u2014she called herself the \u201cqueen of tabled bills\u201d\u2014she has hope for the future, and will continue to try to get these ideas written into law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be here in my old lady wheelchair,\u201d Kelker said.<\/p>\n

Michael Siebert is a reporter with the UM Community News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism and the Montana Newspaper Association.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HELENA \u2014 The main state budget bill at the Montana Legislature passed first reading last week with some surprises, including\u00a0the restoration of \u00a0$11.5 million to higher education funding. But one area has consistently struggled to find funding throughout the first half\u00a0of the 65th Montana legislative session\u2014special education. Funded through a combination of federal dollars and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":16600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[1864,5442,1122,5611,5610],"class_list":["post-16599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montana","category-news","tag-eric-feaver","tag-kathy-kelker","tag-montana-legislature","tag-seth-berglee","tag-special-education","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16603,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16599\/revisions\/16603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}