The Washington State Special Education Coalition believes that all tax payers and supporters of public schools should understand how funding for special education students works. Only a consistent accounting system can accomplish this.
Every student in Washington Schools counts as one Basic Education Allocation (BEA), and as such, generates the dollars agreed to by the legislature. Special needs students (Bilingual, Title 1, LAP and Sp Ed) generate excess cost dollars. The amount differs for each entitlement. However, for special education students, the excess cost amount currently is about $4237 per student. This is in addition to the BEA dollars that each student generates.
Special Education Excess Cost Dollars are meant to be used for the Specially Designed Instruction and Related Services needed for the special education student. They are not meant to replace the BEA dollars. There are more and more “special needs” in public education today, but they are not always special education needs. The WSSEC will continue to support more appropriate funding for other programs like LAP (Learning Assistance Program), ELL (Eng. Lang. Learners), etc. and for basic education as a whole.
Local Education Agencies (LEA) also have a State Safety Net available and should access this Safety Net when needed. Staff at the state education agency are available to help with this.
Since at least 1991, The Washington State Special Education Coalition has supported a clear fiscal tracking system such as “Revenue to Program Accounting” or “Source and Application Accounting.” Excess Costs are just what they sound like, and are not meant to be used as the entire funding allocation for a special education student. The WSSEC is pleased that since 2002, all LEA’s have been required to use the same accounting system. However, there is no systematic, clear manner in which to make comparisons from district to district in order to compare expenditures or for tax payers and policy makers to easily see how sp ed funds are used.
The WSSEC will continue to advocate for a clear and transparent accounting system so that everyone can understand where the needs are and why.