Bill Would Ease Special Education Woes

By Joanne M. Haas
A bipartisan bill aimed at relieving the financial impact of special education programs has an uncertain future in the Legislature.

Senate Bill 280 would allow school boards to exceed revenue caps to cover some special education costs. That means districts would no longer have to take as much money from other programs to fund the costs of operating the required special education programs.

Sen. Plache

Rep. Ladwig

Sen. Grobschmidt

The bill’s main sponsor is Sen. Kimberly Plache, a Racine Democrat. Leading the push to pass the bill in the Assembly is Rep. Bonnie Ladwig, a Racine Republican who says the bill is especially needed to solve a growing funding problem in the Racine Unified School District.

“I know they have a very high percentage of special education students,” Ladwig said. “They’ve had to make cuts” in other programs to fund special education.

“We are finding disagreements sometimes among board members and parents as to where the cuts should be made to fund special education,” said Senate Education Committee Chair Richard Grobschmidt, a Democrat from South Milwaukee. “It pits the parents of regular education students against the parents of special education students.”

Grobschmidt said the Plache-Ladwig proposal is especially crucial in light of the recently enacted 2001-03 state budget. The $47 billion spending package contained no increase in funding for special education. In addition, Gov. McCallum vetoed money earmarked to allow districts to bypass the spending caps by 0.78% annually.

“Since the governor vetoed the revenue cap flexibility, it is imperative that we provide some type of ability for school boards to meet their increased costs,” Grobschmidt said. “We do know there have been increased costs to school districts in a variety of areas, such as fuel costs and special education. Since there was no additional funding, flexibility could have provided some relief.”

How the bill would provide relief
Under Senate Bill 280, school districts would be allowed to increase their budgets beyond the revenue limit to cover some special education costs not funded through federal or state aid – aid which has been decreasing over the years.

Current law provides school districts with categorical state aid for special education. That aid is distributed according to a formula. When funds are insufficient to pay the full amount authorized, the aid is prorated. “Then, everybody gets less,” Plache said.

Getting less forces districts to pull precious dollars from other areas – such as regular education programs, staffing and supplies – to fund special education programs. Senate Bill 280 would allow districts to increase their revenue limit to cover the difference between the amount that the district is eligible to receive under the categorical aid formula and the amount it actually receives.

That is important to school districts because state and federal governments have not been living up to their commitments to fund special education. At the end of this biennium, federal and state funding of special education will fall to an average of 30% to 32% of total costs.

The state used to have a goal of paying 60% of special education costs, but that was “taken off the books because some felt we would never get there,” Plache said.

In October, the Senate passed a Grobschmidt bill that sets the state goal at 63% of special education costs. However, it is only a goal, and the bill passed only after debate about declaring such a goal when the state is facing a $780 million deficit in a weakening economy.

Political problems ahead
When Senate Bill 280 was introduced in October, it had eight Senate co-sponsors – all Democrats. But in the Assembly, where Assistant Majority Leader Ladwig serves as the lead author, the bill enjoyed bipartisan support – four Republican co-sponsors and 16 Democrats. (Ladwig said she found two other Republican co-sponsors after the bill was enrolled.)

Plache said having bipartisan support “certainly helps move the issue forward,” but she stopped short of predicting its fate.
Ladwig said she and Plache enjoy a working relationship “to do what’s good for the people that we represent.” But Ladwig echoed Plache and acknowledged the bill may have a rough time in light of tight budget times.

While Plache has not discussed the matter with McCallum, she is confident it will be warmly received by the Senate Education Committee, which will hold a hearing on the bill. The Assembly may not be so eager.

In what may signal problems ahead, Rep. John Gard, a Peshtigo Republican and co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, said he would be hesitant to hold hearings on any bills providing revenue cap relief until the state’s fiscal condition becomes clearer.

State Budget Director David Schmiedicke agreed with Gard’s opinion that more analysis of Wisconsin’s weakening economic conditions is needed before any type of legislation allowing for increased tax collections or spending is considered.

“Rep. Gard is right. We need to wait and see what our fiscal picture is,” Schmiedicke said in late October. “We are two months away from having a real solid sense.”

Posted November 2, 2001