California Special Education Finance Reform Presentation By Paul Lavigne Ed.D. Executive Director Greater Anaheim SELPA Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) •130 SELPAs •Must meet size and scope •Multi-District •Typically more •Single District than 30,000 •Charter •Preschool-age 22 County •Governed by local • plan Greater Anaheim SELPA • Approximately 6,700 students with IEPs. • Largest in Orange County • Anaheim Union High School District • Centralia School District • Cypress School District • Los Alamitos Unfied School District • Magnolia School District • Savanna School District California Education System 6,288,235 K-12 Students 1,024 School Districts 274,246 Teachers Special Education in California 754,337 students with disabilities 11% of the student population 68% are boys 29% are English Learners Top 3 Primary Disability Categories 38.87% Specific Learning Disability 21.21% Speech and Language Disorder 13.86% Autism Funding Sources for Special Education State Funding Decreases as Caseloads Increase Overview of Funding Issues AB 602 Base Rates Preschool Students with Severe Disabilities In the 20 years since the last Rates vary by Special major Special Education Education Local Plan Area Despite the efficacy of early finance reform, the (SELPA) throughout the intervention programs, no percentage of Special state funding is provided to state and have. not kept up Education students requiring with increasing Special support the estimated $490 greater support has risen Education costs million schools report dramatically. spending on Special Funds are based on ADA, Education preschool During the same period, the which is declining while the programs state’s dedicated fund to percentage of students with support low incidence disabilities increases students was eliminated. © 2019 School Services of California, Inc. 10 Special Education Finance Reform AB 428 • Assembly members Medina, O’Donnell, Frazier, Arambula, and. Reyes introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 428 to address these critical needs by: • Establishing a funding mechanism to support Special Education preschool programs, by adding preschoolers to the AB 602 funding formula • Addressing long-standing inequities by equalizing Special Education funding rates to the 95th percentile • Providing a supplemental grant to support students with greater needs, including students on the autism spectrum, and students who are blind, visually impaired, and intellectually disabled. • The bill is co-sponsored by the Coalition for Adequate Funding for Special Education, the California School Boards Association, and the California Association of School Business Officials and was supported last year by numerous education stakeholders, including State PTA 11 Questions?.