82 percent of high need funds used to remove kids from their school districts
The state has a fund set up for students whose special education support is exceptionally high cost. It’s a way for schools to get students what they need to access learning. In the 2020-21 school year, the state awarded $91 million in special education Safety Net funds.
But.
Just over 29 percent of awards for “high need individual” – and 82 percent of funds in play for that category – paid for out-of-district placements. That’s up from 23 percent of applications in 2019-20.
This included 80 placements in out-of-state non-public agencies (NPAs) – up from 58 in 2019-20.
In other words, most of the funds are being used to remove students from their local public schools, rather than ensure their local school is equipped to meet their needs.
While most awards (2,236) supported students in their district, the state paid more than $71 million to serve 916 students outside their local public schools. This included:
- 468 students – In-state, non-public agency placement; $36 million
- 189 students – Educational Service District (ESD) placement; $12 million
- 179 students – Placement in another school district; $10 million
- 80 students – Out-of-state, non-public agency placement; $13 million
There are two types of Safety Net funding: High-Need Individual and Community Impact. High-Need funding is provided on behalf of an individual student. Community Impact funding is for a factor that impacts the local education agency as a whole. A local education agency can be a school district, charter school, or tribal compact school.
The 2021 Safety Fund awards covered:
- 3,153 high-need individual applications totaling just over $86 million
- 15 community impact applications totaling just under $5 million
More than $834 million has been awarded in Safety Net funding since the program’s beginning in the 1996. In 2020–21, awards went to 116 local education agencies; 118 applied.
This information comes from the 2021 Safety Net Survey, Report to the Legislature
This article was written by Ramona Hattendorf, director of advocacy at The Arc of King County.
