As mentioned in my previous diary, school districts in Washington State are suffering under a 12.7% population cap in Special Education funding. As a community with strong medical and social services, Spokane Public Schools has frequently been several hundred students above this cap with no way to make up the slack.
After years of begging from legislators and making cuts to make ends meet, we joined several other school districts in a last-ditch effort to get the funding we need by taking the state to court.
We originally filed suit in September, 2004. A decision has been made at last!
While we were hoping to have the cap rejected outright, this did not happen. My leart lept and fell several times as I read through the 27 page decision. In the end, Judge Thomas McPhee declared the funding model unconstitutional as currently applied:
I conclude that the cap in Section 507 that denies payment of excess cost allocation for that portion of a school district’s special education population over 12.7 percent of the district’s FTE student population is unconstitutional as applied because there is no safety net or other alternative that permits affected school districts to seek redress from the limitations of the cap. In the manner in which the cap is currently applied, it violates the State’s duty to make ample provision for the education of all special education students, as required by article IX, section 1 of the constitution.
http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/...
While other secondary claims were denied, I feel a decision was made that addresses the largest portion of our state's responsiblity to fund Special Education. Perhaps other states (and maybe even our federal government) will take notice.
Thankfully (hopefully) this decision has come in time to influence the current legislative session. I have already written my representatives and senator on this topic. I hope they will abide by the court's decision. We cannot afford another year like the last one:
As a result of application of the cap in 2005-06, excess cost allocation was denied to school districts for 5,464 special education students, and the districts affected experienced a loss of $21.6 million of excess cost allocation.
I'm presently at home suffering from a cold. I debated whether or not to check my work email, but I'm glad I did.