Knappa School District paraprofessional Jenine Rubus helps students in an algebra classroom in November. A quarter of the district’s students require additional supports such as in-classroom assistance. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
Paraprofessional Jenine Rubus attends Knappa High School classes to assist students with individualized education programs.
She helps students understand concepts and stay on track so that they can attend mainstream classes that might be a struggle otherwise. The law requires the Knappa School District to provide necessary supports, such as paraprofessionals, to all students on an IEP. Special education funding provides Rubus’ salary, according to the district.
The State School Fund allocates extra money for special education, but the formula shortchanges Knappa and most Oregon school districts for the actual cost of services.
Securing funding for schools’ special education costs is one of OSBA’s top goals this session. On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the House Education Committee will hear a presentation on special education funding that the Oregon Department of Education previewed in December. House Bill 2953, which would change the cap, is scheduled for a hearing Monday, Feb. 17, in the House Education Committee.
Oregon allocates the State School Fund using a complex formula so that all districts get roughly the same per pupil plus considerations for some extra expenses. The funding formula allocates a double amount for students on IEPs, recognizing that those children require additional supports such as specialized learning materials and equipment or dedicated staff.
The formula caps the number of students a district can count, often referred to as the “SPED cap.” The Legislature set the SPED cap in 1991 at 11%, roughly the state and national average when the State School Fund was created, and never increased it.
With changes in the law and improved identification, the national and Oregon average for students with IEPs is now about 15% and hasn’t fallen below 11% in Oregon since the 1995-96 school year, according to the Oregon Department of Education. As of the 2022-23 school year, only 29 school districts had less than 11% of their students on an IEP, according to ODE.
“The education world looked different in 1991,” said Adrienne Anderson, OSBA’s legislative specialist working on the issue. “The formula no longer provides the necessary resources to serve all our children, and we have an opportunity to modernize our approach.”
Dawn Watson, a Phoenix-Talent School Board member and OSBA Board vice president, has a son who was diagnosed with autism at age 2. Watson said her son, now 20, graduated with a full diploma and started college thanks to the additional support he received in his school just south of Medford.
Schools are required by law to provide additional support, but Watson is deeply grateful for how much her school district willingly and creatively embraced that mission.
“We had great teachers for thinking outside the box to support him,” Watson said. “It was only possible because of the additional staff and the teachers being allowed to take the extra time to create a suitable classroom environment.”
According to ODE, the double weight provides about 65% of schools’ required spending on students with IEPs. In the December legislative hearing, ODE showed what a 15% enrollment cap on special education funding would look like, lowering the number of unfunded eligible students to about 3,600.
According to Tiffanie Lambert, a Phoenix-Talent assistant superintendent, the district’s average cost for a student on an IEP is more than the double weight. If the cap were moved to 15%, Phoenix-Talent would receive an additional $190,000.
Knappa also spends on average more than the double weight per student, according to Superintendent Bill Fritz. He estimates raising the cap to 15% would add about $160,000 to his budget for special education.
Knappa and Phoenix-Talent leaders say a 15% cap would come close to their actual average costs but only if the money is added on top of projections for the State School Fund. If the cap is raised without any additional funding, it just recuts the pie because the State School Fund is divvied up according to enrollment.
Fritz said his funding would actually likely be lower because of the complicated way the State School Fund counts rural enrollment.
Knappa had 25% of its students on an IEP last school year.
Oregon provides some cap waivers for districts with especially high numbers of special needs students. Even with the waivers, school districts did not receive the additional funding for more than 12,000 students who had IEPs in 2022-23, according to ODE.
Knappa tries to serve most of its special needs students in its classrooms. Brittany Norton, Knappa’s director of student services, said mainstreaming many of their students would not be possible without support from aides such as Rubus. Some students require modest accommodations while others need one-on-one support.
“We have to provide whatever level of support a student needs,” Norton said. “I’m not going to let a student’s needs be directed by the budget.”
In many small or rural areas, schools also take on the roles of social service agency and health care provider.
“The schools are what parents lean on to provide services for their children,” Norton said.
Some students require more specialized attention than Knappa can effectively provide for a small number. Knappa shares costs with three other northwest districts to serve them in Astoria and Warrenton, about 30 minutes from Knappa.
In extreme cases, Knappa must pay to send a student to a residential school, which can run in excess of $100,000 a year. For a small school, just one student with high needs creates a proportionally significant budget impact for years.
Oregon offers additional funding for students whose expenses are more than $30,000 a year, but that typically does not come anywhere near the cost. Depending on legislative allocations to the High Cost Disability Account, districts tend to get back a little more than 40% of their costs above the $30,000 threshold. House Bill 2448 would increase the amount in the fund. It is also scheduled for a hearing Monday, Feb. 17, in the House Education Committee.
The IEP process is a step-by-step rigorous evaluation that clearly lays out what a student needs.
“Whatever the cost is, we are required to provide that program,” said Fritz. “We do that willingly and gladly because it is a moral and ethical requirement.”
Schools are required to offer a defined level of support and maintain that spending no matter their budget, but Phoenix-Talent’s Watson would like to see schools be able to improve their programs.
“It’s sad for me when I see where more support could benefit a student and the school just can’t offer it,” Watson said. “We should raise the cap to give students more of a chance to be successful and to be ready for college and work when they graduate.”
Education advocates are looking to tweak the state funding approach to better account for the variability of Oregon’s 197 school districts.
“Underfunding special education does a disservice to all our students,” said OSBA’s Anderson. “We want more money for our special education students, and that investment improves our schools for everyone – end of story.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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