WA State: "Special ed funding crisis"; state arbitrarily capped SPED at 13.5%

Feb 5, 2019, KING5 Seattle: Proposed bill seeks to address special education funding crisis in Washington https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/proposed-bill-seeks-to-address-special-education-funding-crisis-in-washington/281-b02d6127-0487-43aa-b849-2f05c87ddf96 Washington House lawmakers introduced a bill Monday that would eliminate a decades-old cap on the number of special education students the state will fund. It’s one of several attempts to address Washington state’s special ed funding crisis, which has left thousands of special needs students without access to the individualized education services they are guaranteed under state and federal law. The Democrat-sponsored bill, which hasn't yet been scheduled for a hearing, would force the state to increase the amount of money it spends per special education student. It would require the state to pay school districts based on the average number of special education students who live and are enrolled in the district — a major change from the model the state of Washington has followed for the last 24 years. Currently, the state will only shell out money to support the special education students who make up to 13.5 percent of a district’s total population — even though more than 100 school districts, in the 2017-2018 school year, reported having more students with special needs enrolled. "Our state has been denying students with disabilities their constitutional rights to basic education by cutting off funding to the school districts with an arbitrary percentage," said Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, the primary sponsor of the bill. Statewide, special education is underfunded by millions of dollars. A 2018 KING 5 investigation, which included interviews with dozens of special education experts, educators and parents, revealed that the state's cap on funding has: • Forced school administrators to take resources away from general education budgets in order to stay compliant with federal law. • Led some school officials to delay, reduce and deny eligible children access to special education services because their district won't get enough state funding…. Noah Legg-Lopez, a 6-year-old non-verbal student with autism, didn't receive an education for months because his Snohomish County school district, which exceeded the 13.5 percent cap, denied him a chair in the class last school year….