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Increase Funding for Special Education Fact Sheet
Position
Re-instate the annual special education growth factor
into the k-12 funding formula and fund it accordingly.
Background Information
Minnesota’s funding commitment to educate students with disabilities
has historically been strong. However, there is increasing
concern that too much of the cost to educate students with disabilities
are borne
by local school districts. In the early 1990’s a concerted effort
was made to increase the state’s share of special education costs
by implementing a growth factor into the funding formula.
In 2003 the growth factor was repealed thus causing the “cross
subsidy” to
increase. For FY 2004 the adjusted net cross subsidy
is estimated to be $377 million. To make the funding system more equitable
and relieve
stress on local districts, the state should pay a higher
percentage of special education costs.
Reasons to Support
- Providing
a high quality education to all children is
important for Minnesota. Changing demographics
will require businesses to tap into students and adults
with disabilities to address future
workforce needs.
- While providing a quality education
to some students with disabilities may be considered
expensive, the alternatives
are far more expensive.
- Shifting more costs to educate students with
disabilities
to local school districts is a contributing factor
to the financial stress faced by many districts.
- Communities are becoming
unnecessarily divided when families
who have children with disabilities are blamed
for the cost of educating their children by school officials
and others.
- Implementing
local levy options for special education
might be helpful in some local districts but many
communities aren’t
able to pass a levy for this purpose. Some might
be able to pass a separate levy but the net effect is minimal.
- States and localities
don’t have the ability to limit their special
education programs to the funding available, and
are required to ensure that every student receives a free
and appropriate public education.
This document was prepared using private funding.
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