Education Committee Update 3.28.09

Some of the difficulties of implementing best practices in special ed result from state rules and not from federal requirements regulations.

We have learned that a few schools have been granted waivers to pilot innovative practices that would not normally be permitted under the rules. Results appear to be positive in the early going.

The audit rules for use of ARRA stimulus funds for education have not been fully written as yet but there seems to be an agreement that using funds for operating expenses or current growth is only going to create a cliff of debt in three years. The best options appear to be :

1) Use to develop in-house capacity by enhancing the skills of current employees which has the potential for long term savings.

2) Creating three or four state wide training modules to enable schools to improve or create their programs for costly high need, low
incident students.

3) LEA cooperation to develop clearing houses for information and very skilled regional personnel and services that individual districts
could not afford to do on their own but could sustain by sharing cost once these service centers are up and running. These might include information and services for Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Emotional Behavior Difficulties. Doing this across SU's has the potential of increasing expertise in a way that local districts could not support on their own while at the same time address a very costly need that the districts already face.

The role of the DOE would be to assist schools as they work to use ARRA funds in the most efficient way to reduce costs in the long term.

This would entail helping districts and regions use funds in a manner that meets the use requirements as well as the reporting requirements of the act. We do not want to see districts have to return funds because of a procedural problem. In addition, staff must be provided to enable cooperation across LEA lines. The DOE does not have the capacity to do this, as they are now required to cut 20 more positions. The goal would not be to fund DOE positions, but it does not make sense to worry about 2,-4 temporary positions when assistance is needed to spend $55,000,000 efficiently as possible. Existing DOE staff could coordinate training and project designs using consultants in cooperation with all interested parties. The Ed. Committee is working on an amendment to the budget bill to encourage the DOE to maintain capacity for the specific purpose of helping schools use the available funds in the most efficient manner. Positions created to help coordinate the implementation of these improvements would be temporary and end when the training ends or programs are underway.

Representative Gary Gilbert