LETTER: With surplus, state must give schools more special ed funds

To Ozaukee Press:

As a parent of a child who receives special education services, and as a Wisconsin taxpayer, I asked the Joint Finance Committee to reimburse school districts for 60% of the cost of special education. Our kids can’t keep waiting.

I attended three of the four JFC listening sessions with Learn in My Shoes, a grassroots group of parents of disabled children advocating for special education funding. Over and over, families, educators and advocates all asked for the same thing: fully fund special education.

Yet the current proposal focuses on reimbursing only high-cost special education services at 90%, helping just 3% of students. While that’s a kind gesture, it leaves 97% of students, including my son, without what they need. The proposed 35% and 37.5% reimbursement rates for general special education are simply not enough.

This isn’t a matter of affordability, it’s a matter of priorities. Wisconsin has a $4.3 billion surplus. We could fund 60% of special education costs without raising a dime in taxes. And if we don’t, taxpayers will keep shouldering the cost through local referendums that pit communities against each other.

Special education should not be a political issue. It’s about giving every child, regardless of ability, a fair and supported education. 

Amanda Sherman

Mequon

Editor’s note: The JFC special education funding proposal was increased only slightly in the final state budget passed by the Legislature on July 3. In a compromise approved by Gov. Tony Evers, the special education rate of reimbursement for school districts was set at 42% this year and 45% in the second year of the budget, still far less than superintendents of districts struggling to pay the cost of federally mandated special education had asked for. Many of the governor’s fellow Democrats in the Legislation voted against the budget specifically because of its failure to provide adequate state funding for K-12 public schools. With the insignificant increases in special education reimbursement and no increase in general state education aid, districts will be forced to continue to transfer funding from their already stressed general education budgets to cover special education.