Pub. 5 2015-2016 Issue 2

8 This legislative session has resulted in some major changes in special education funding for Utah schools. Years ago the WPU (Weighted Pupil Unit) value for regular education and special education were the same. Changes were made, and some of the funds for special education were moved to other programs like Flexible Allocation, and others. The WPU value was reduced to reflect the movement of those funds to other programs. The argument at the time was that funding was not being cut for special education, it was just being allocated differently. As time went on the discrepancy between the WPU value of regular ed and special ed grew to over $270.00 per WPU. Special educators took issue with the fact that the funds were moved to non-restricted programs, meaning schools were not necessarily spending those dollars on special ed. The USOE Special Education Finance Committee (I serve on that committee representing charter schools) has for the last few years recommended that the value of the WPU’s be equalized again, ensuring all WPU funds are used for special educa- tion. This is what the legislators did during this session. The Flexible Allocation fund was reduced to cover the cost of the equalization between the regular ed WPU and the special ed WPU. Now the value of a WPU Special Education Add-on is the same as the Grades 1-12 WPU, which for the 2017 school year is $3,184.00. What you will see for next school year is a decrease in your Flexible Allocation funding and an increase in your Special Education Add-on funding. This is over all a good thing for charter schools. Charters historically have a greater percentage of special ed students than the district schools. This funding change will benefit schools that have those higher percentages and put the money where it belongs, in special education. Another, smaller change was made to the Intensive Needs Pool. The Intensive Needs Pool is a fund that schools can apply to for reimbursement if the cost of care and education of a special education student exceeds three times the cost of a typical special education student. An example of this might be a student that requires a full time one-on-one nurse to accompany them throughout the school day. A school can apply for reimburse- ment of those excessive costs and will be paid out of the fund depending on availability (the amount in the fund compared to the amount of reimbursement requests). Historically needs for that fund have exceeded $10,000,000.00 annually, but the amount in the fund was around $2,000,000.00 last year. This year the legislature allotted another $1,000,000.00 towards that fund to help, but still not meet, the demand. The hope is that if we keep hammering away, each year this pool is better funded and eventually, we meet all the needs of these students. If there are questions regarding these changes, or any other suggestions about special education funding that you would like presented to the USOE Special Education Finance Committee, please feel free to contact me at Spectrum Academy Charter Schools. Funding Changes Special BY BRAD NELSON, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT, SPECTRUM ACADEMY