BY MICHAEL GARDNER, UNION-TRIBUNE

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 16, 2010 AT 4:14 P.M., UPDATED AUGUST 16, 2010 AT 5:56 P.M.

SACRAMENTO — A state budget glitch could cost special needs students in San Diego County $17 million.

To make matters worse, the California Department of Education is saying that some of the money already spent by districts may have to be returned unless emergency fix-it legislation is signed into law.

To head off that possibility, the state Senate in the coming days is expected to approve such a measure carried by Assemblyman Marty Block, D-San Diego.

“It was a terrible oversight,” Block said. “If we don’t get the bill, millions of dollars will have to go back. School districts will have to lay off teachers, other employees and cut services.”

The problem is the Department of Education cannot allocate dollars to school districts for what’s called the “special disabilities adjustment” until a statute is passed as part of the budget act. Due to an oversight, that statute to authorize sending out the checks beyond an earlier sunset date was not passed as part of the 2009-10 budget. On top of that, the new state budget is long overdue.

The added outlay — worth $70 million statewide and $17 million to districts within San Diego County — helps schools with larger than average numbers of students with autism, brain injuries and other severe disabilities.

Forty percent of special education students in the San Diego Unified School District fall into this category.

A key selling point of the bill: San Diego is one of the two ports in the nation where the U.S. Navy specifically stations families with an autistic child because of support services, Block said.

Examples of the dollars at stake locally, Block said, include: San Diego Unified, $9 million; Sweetwater Union High School District, $1.4 million; Grossmont Union High School District, $1.25 million; Cajon Valley Union School District, $1 million; Chula Vista Elementary, $950,000; and La Mesa-Spring Valley, $700,000.

Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position.

Fresno

Fresno Unified School District is using federal stimulus funds, along with instituting a hiring and purchasing freeze, to balance its 2010-11 budget and avoid layoffs. The district will use its $34.9 million State Fiscal Stabilization Fund grant to finance deferred maintenance projects in the district. IDEA and Title I funding will be used to create and retain jobs: 305 positions through IDEA and, to date, 60 positions through Title I. Title I funding has been allocated for hiring and retaining librarians, library technicians, health assistants, and nurses. IDEA funding will be used to reduce the local contribution to special education costs in 2009-10. Other special education initiatives will be undertaken once agreed to by the school board in October. The district anticipates that additional jobs will be created after these initiatives are approved.

Long Beach

Long Beach Unified School District plans to use its State Fiscal Stabilization Fund allocation to retain educators and keep class sizes at a manageable level.

In addition, the Head Start and Early Head Start programs will use a $1.1 million grant through ARRA to purchase classroom equipment; buy instructional materials to support its language and literacy component and its early math and early science efforts; and improve the physical learning environment with the acquisition of furnishings, such as new area rugs, tables, chairs, and cubbies. The grant also provides for professional development and training for teachers and a one-time cost-of -living adjustment.

The district will also receive a $524,994 equipment assistance grant funded through ARRA. The money will be used primarily to replace aging freezer and refrigeration equipment at up to 55 schools.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles Unified School District plans to use ARRA stimulus funding primarily to reduce the district’s budget deficit and to prevent layoffs. The district anticipates saving 4,621 jobs using stimulus dollars. However, this assistance still will not cover the district’s three-year deficit.

More than 80 percent of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund dollars will be devoted to saving approximately 2,600 jobs. Using the stimulus support, the district has been able to maintain K-3 class size reduction (24:1 vs. 29:1) and preserve the positions of school police officers and elementary art and music teachers. The district also plans to support after-school programs and avoid further increases in the sizes of secondary school classes, while retaining the positions of clerical support workers, custodians, and counselors. The district also plans to uphold class-size standards at 27:1 for continuation and independent studies, campus aides, and the nursing program.

Los Angeles Unified School District will also allocate a significant portion of its IDEA funding to avoid further staff reduction (estimated at 333 jobs). The district hopes to use half of the funding to save jobs and the other half for one-time special education programs. It also will support professional development for teachers in differentiated instruction, specialized training related to autism support, a prevention program for grades K-2, accessible classroom-assistive technology, specialized training, salaries of paraeducators, and technology infrastructure.

Lastly, the superintendent plans to allocate as much ARRA Title I funding as possible (more than 60 percent) to go back to the schools, and is encouraging district schools to use the dollars to stabilize their schools by adding positions. This action will promote choice and better align with federal guidelines.

San Diego

San Diego Unified School District will use stimulus funding to help replace money lost through enormous state budget cuts. The district and school board are currently considering the most effective way to use Title I stimulus funds, and may direct some funding to an existing class-size reduction program that has suffered due to the recession.

San Diego’s was the first school district in the nation to utilize the interest-free Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCBs) available under the federal stimulus package (according to the finance newspaper, The Bond Buyer). The district had plans for a school facility improvement program in place before ARRA was enacted, as well as prior bond authorization approval from the voters. This unique situation allowed the San Diego schools to take advantage of the federal bonding authority quickly, for the exact purpose that the stimulus measure intended: to provide fiscal relief to the district and create jobs in the community.

The district’s allocation of $38.8 billion in QSCBs under ARRA was included as part of San Diego’s larger capital improvement program, and will be used for repairing outdated student restrooms and deteriorated plumbing and roofs, as well as for upgrading career and vocational classrooms and labs. In addition, the funding will be used to provide up-to-date classroom technology; improve school safety and security and upgrade fire alarms; replace dilapidated portable classrooms; and remove hazardous substances. The district will realize savings of approximately $20 million as a result of the federal bonding authority, and will use the funds to make technology investments that would otherwise have been delayed until money was available.

San Diego Unified School District also received $160,000 in stimulus funds from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency to continue the district’s efforts to “clean up” its fleet of school buses. Since 1999, 519 buses have been retrofitted with new diesel technology (10 using ARRA funds) and the district is now using only seven buses without the “green” technology. Students in the district’s automotive technology program are receiving training that will prepare them for “green” careers in diesel technology.

San Francisco

San Francisco Unified School District lost $57 million in state aid, and most of the federal stimulus funding will be used to sustain the reforms that the district has been working to implement. Stimulus funding will also be used for teacher professional development, educational technology, and in ensuring that students have the supports that they need to graduate and attend college. The district set up a Web page to gather comments from the public about how the stimulus money could be used.

The district is using State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSFs) primarily to offset cuts made by the State of California to revenue limit/state aid and state categorical programs. This stimulus funding will allow San Francisco to maintain programs that serve the highest-need students and avoid layoffs of certificated staff in the 2009-10 school year. As a result of SFSFs, the district will be able to maintain several key programs, including summer school programs for students at risk of being retained or failing the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE). Stabilization funds will also support critical intervention and targeted instructional services—such as those provided by instructional reform facilitators, school advisors, parent-community liaisons, middle and high school counselors—to schools with the highest concentration of economically disadvantaged and at-risk of failing students. Strategic professional development for new teachers will also be supported with SFSFs.

More than half of the Title I funding under ARRA will be used to support instructional reform facilitators, who will serve as teachers on special assignment at program improvement school sites. Approximately one-fourth of the funds will focus on parent and community liaisons, who support family services at program improvement school sites. Remaining funding will be used to provide summer school at program improvement sites; to create an academic warehouse and reporting system: and to buttress school choice transportation and indirect funding.

The district’s IDEA stimulus funds will be used in 2009-10 to provide increased services to special needs students through non-public schools and non-public agencies.

For the full report Click Here.

MICHELLE MITCHELL • THE DESERT SUN • MAY 23, 2010

Among the beneficiaries of the $787 billion in federal stimulus funds is special education.

More than $10 million sent to the Coachella Valley’s three school districts are designated as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding.

School districts already are required to provide a certain level of service for students with disabilities, even though the cost to do that is higher than the special education funding districts receive from state and federal governments.

Districts were allowed to use up to half of the stimulus funding to help cover the special education costs that rise above what they are funded for — something all three districts took advantage of.

About 60 percent of districts statewide did the same, according to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office survey. But because special education services already are mandated, the extra funding helped districts provide additional services and training instead of just staving off cuts to the program.

“The stimulus funds really did provide enhancement,” said Laura Fisher, director of pupil services and special education for Coachella Valley Unified.

Fisher’s district used the IDEA stimulus money to fund 11 instructional aides in the classroom as well as additional training and equipment, she said.

Desert Sands Unified purchased assistive technology and computers and software to provide extra help to students with disabilities.

Maria Moore, special education teacher at Ronald Reagan Elementary School in Palm Desert, received two computers with headphones and software for her preschool students — and it’s been a hit with students and parents.

“Because it’s visual and my kids are so visual, it’s definitely something they love to do,” she said. “When they’re on it, they’re on it. They’re not misbehaving.”

The computer program both supplements the work that students are doing in the classroom and can provide printouts for parents and Moore to see where students need extra help.

Moore said she hasn’t had the computer and software long enough to determine how much it can really help her class of students with mild to moderate disabilities, but the computers aren’t going anywhere — a long-term impact of short-term stimulus funding.

The special education funding also indirectly helped limit cuts in other areas. For example, a district could cover $2 million of the extra cost of special education with stimulus dollars rather than the general fund.

So while the IDEA stimulus money technically funds special education, it also frees up dollars for other teaching jobs or costs.