WI: SPED costs >$599M; "increase in... students with more complex needs"

Aug 15, 2022, Madison.com [WI]: Schools receive less money for special education as costs rise and parents struggle https://madison.com/news/local/education/local_schools/schools-receive-less-money-for-special-education-as-costs-rise-and-parents-struggle/article_8b6f286e-847d-51ac-ae96-09e0042a8f7f.html

….The cost of special education climbed to more than $1.5 billion in Wisconsin in the 2020-21 school year, but state reimbursement to cover those costs for that year remained below $500 million, which has left school districts to make up the difference. And with the recent jump in inflation, those costs are expected to soar even higher.

Madison School District officials have pointed to the current staffing shortage, which they say was made worse by a lack of state funding to support the rising cost of special education, as a major hurdle in providing special-education students with the services they need. Officials have also repeatedly pointed to the 0% increase in revenue limits in the state’s biennial budget as a main reason they’re unable to hire more staff to support special-needs students, or to pay the current staff higher wages….

Legislative Republicans have repeatedly defended the lack of an increase by noting schools will be getting $2.3 billion in federal COVID relief aid, known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER funds. But school officials note that the use of ESSER dollars for ongoing expenses, such as hiring more staff or increasing wages, could create a fiscal cliff in school districts once the one-time money, meant to mitigate pandemic-related learning loss, runs out.

The rate at which special education in Wisconsin’s public schools is funded has been on a steady decline, from 70% in 1973, according to a 2019 report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, to the current rate of roughly 30%, as costs increase….

An increase in the number of students with more complex needs coupled with high inflation has driven the cost of special education up, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum. …

MISSED DIAGNOSES

That lack of staffing has been an issue for other parents too, as well as a hindrance in identifying learning disabilities and getting students placed on IEPs….

LOOKING FORWARD

If special-education reimbursement had increased to 50% in the most recent biennium, it would have added $16.1 million to the Madison School District’s budget, Heinritz said. That could have allowed the district to hire more special-education staff and pay them more….

Democrat Gov. Tony Evers proposed increasing special-education reimbursement to 50% in his draft 2021-23 biennial budget, but the proposal was scrapped by Republicans, although they did bump reimbursement by 2 percentage points to its current rate of roughly 30%....