Bill addresses funds for victim services

People with IDD are more likely to need this support. It can help those who have experienced things like sexual assault, child abuse, or domestic violence

• Sign in or testify on SB 5362 
• Send comment to your legislators on SB 5362
• SB 5362 is being heard at 10:30 am Monday, February 3, in the Senate Law & Justice committee. You will be able to watch it here

People with intellectual or other developmental disabilities (IDD) are significantly more likely to be victimized than people without IDD. They are:

• At least twice as likely to be a victim of a violent crime

• 4 to 10 times more likely to be abused

There is a bill being heard February 3 to help victims of violent crimes access resources. For example, to get help with:

• Housing assistance
• Therapy
• Legal aid

SB 5362 makes sure community programs and organizations supporting people who have experienced things like sexual assault, child abuse, or domestic violence have money to help people.

Domestic violence includes violent or aggressive behavior in the home, often by a partner

Some people who experience these things prefer to be called victims. Others prefer to be called survivors. We use both words.

 

BACKGROUND

In 1984, Congress passed a law to help victims of violent crimes. This law is called the Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA). This law takes money collected in federal cases and uses it to help victims. The money comes from:

• Criminal fines
• Penalties
• Bond forfeitures

The money is for victims who have suffered in these ways:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Money-related

In our state, this money goes to the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy. This office then gives money to programs supporting victims of crime.

Victims/survivors do not need to go to court to prove they were hurt by a violent crime to get resources. Most violent crimes, like sexual assault, do not get reported to the police. This means most people who get hurt by violent crimes do not go to court and accuse specific people of the crime. People who do not go through court also might need support, so resources can go to them, too.

The Office of Crimes Victims Advocacy funds programs over a period of three years. But the funding isn’t the same every year. Sometimes it is low. Some years it is high.

In recent years it has been low.

 

WHAT MIGHT CHANGE

This bill makes sure community organizations supporting victims/survivors have money to help them, even when there is not a lot of money from the federal program.

The money to support victims/survivors will increase over time:

• $50 million per year from 2025 to 2029
• $60 million per year from 2029 to 2033
• $70 million per year after 2033

The money needs to be used for services and support – not for things like building or fixing up an office or buying equipment.

 - Esther Warwick, Community Advocacy Coordinator, The Arc of King County

 

School funding bills call to question: Should the money support inclusive practice?

Attention education advocates!

Bills propose big increases for special education services. But will we lose our momentum for inclusionary practices?

These bills have been heard, but you can still send your state legislators a comment:

• Comment on SB 5307 (Comprehensive bill, plus inclusion)
  
• Comment on SB 5263 (Comprehensive bill; no inclusion). Scheduled for committee action January 30 in the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee.
  

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These bills are being heard by the House Appropriations committee at 4 pm, Thursday, January 30:

HB 1310 (House version of 5307). Comprehensive bill, plus inclusion

• Note your position, sign up to testify, or send in written testimony
• Send note to your legislator

HB 1267. Phases out cap on funding, only

• Note your position, sign up to testify, or send in written testimony
• Send note to your legislator

HB 1357. Re-links multipliers for early supports for infants and toddlers and preschool special education services. Would create a new inclusionary schools pilot program.

• Note your position, sign up to testify, or send in written testimony
• Send note to your legislator

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The Washington state legislature is considering several bills that make BIG investments in special education services for students with disabilities. You might like to use this chart as a guide. 

All of them include funding changes that advocates have asked for, but only some affirm the importance of inclusionary practices.

At The Arc of King County we would like to see legislation that:

• Affirms the importance of inclusion and the need to offer technical support on disproportionality,  inclusive practices, and helping families and schools create effective IEPs
  
• Ends the cap and stops penalizing small, rural, and less-wealthy schools
  
• Increases the multipliers (and funding) for all schools
• Fixes a technical problem that penalizes districts placing students in inclusive settings
  
• Fixes an oversight that left early supports for infants and toddlers (ESIT) underfunded
• Increases access to the safety net for smaller, less-wealthy school districts 
  

Both SB 5307 / HB 1310 and SB 5263 end the cap on funded enrollment, increase the multipliers for preschool and K-12 special education services, and work to make the safety net more accessible. The safety net is available to cover IEPs that are exceptionally expensive.

(IEP = Individualized Education Program)

HB 1310 / SB 5307 also allows quarterly safety net payments in certain situations, while SB 5263 decreases the eligibility threshold for the safety net. We would like to see both approaches, so that the students who need these intensive services can access them more equitably.

HB 1310 / SB 5307 also includes a technical fix so that schools shifting to inclusion aren't penalized and includes a funding mechanism to support the Inclusionary Practices Technical Network, address disproportionality or over-identification, and work on a statewide tool for IEPs, something that if done right with plain language and translations could be a HUGE help for families trying to understand what their child's rights are and how these services are supposed to work.

Currently, none of the comprehensive bills includes language to re-link the multipliers for ESIT and preschool special education services. We strongly support re-linking them to stabilize funding for our youngest learners.

INCLUSION MATTERS - HOW DOES FUNDING SUPPORT IT?

In our experience, adequate funding, while critical, is not the only issue undermining quality, inclusive, and accessible education for students with disabilities. How members of IEP teams (including parents) are supported is a BIG part of it, as are biases and assumptions about what kids with cognitive disabilities or extensive support needs can do, or where they should learn. We could use a good tool and state technical support to do right by our youth.

HB 1310/SB 5307 affirms through state policy what federal law requires and science supports: Students with disabilities have the right to equal access in integrated settings, and an equal opportunity to benefit. Special education is a service, and not a place. Special education services are designed to be mobile, flexible, and not linked to a specific location, classroom, or building schedule.

(Source: Americans with Disabilities Act, Title II; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. There are also US Supreme Court cases that come into play, namely Olmstead v LC for the ADA, and Endrew F. v. Douglas for the IDEA.)

LEARN MORE ABOUT INCLUSIVE PRACTICES & FUNDING:

The state’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) recently finished a performance audit of special education service delivery and access and special education funding formulas and spending.

Our takeaways from JLARC reports:

• ACCESS & OPPORTUNITY: Experts identify 6 strategies to support inclusive and accessible learning. While some of the strategies are used in some Washington schools, there is no statewide coordination, and there is no statewide policy prioritizing inclusive practices.

• THE CAP FALLACY: The enrollment cap on funded special education services disproportionately affects small, rural, and less wealthy districts. There is no research or evidence that enrollment caps improve appropriate identification of students to receive special education. Instead, research suggests enrollment caps penalize districts who have more students in need of services.
  

Inclusion is about practice

The state’s Inclusive Practices Technical Network (IPTN), a project of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), continues to do great work creating and distributing resources to support best practices. But most students are not yet benefiting, especially Black/African American students and students with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

We aren’t suggesting funding is not important. But funding WITHOUT inclusionary practices could perpetuate harm, like placing more Black/African American youth in segregated settings and not giving kids with cognitive disabilities or more extensive support needs access to the general education curriculum and school community.

Research does not support segregation. Some students require more intensive services, but that support does not need to happen in a segregated setting.

Research supports changing the school environment (for everyone) to be more flexible and responsive, and implementing practices to better support diverse children, with and without disabilities.

Two resources we recommend (Share with your IEP team!)

• Myths and Facts About Inclusionary Practices

OSPI's special education team says this is their most downloaded resource.

•  Comprehensive Inclusive Education in Washington, created by OSPIs’ special education team and the TIES Center. 

This resource helps staff connect general education and IEPs, and provides content centering students with extensive support needs and their families.

This is a great tool for ALL families and IEP teams, but especially if your school is talking about inclusion and you aren’t sure what that means for you child, or if you are trying to secure an inclusive placement and the rest of the IEP team is resistant.

You might also want to share this policy paper issued by the US Department of Education:  Building and Sustaining Inclusive Educational Practices

It is exciting to see resources that support inclusive learning for ALL of our students, and it is a relief to see funding proposals to address inadequate funding for services. In the end, we hope whatever passes the state legislature elevates and centers on inclusive practices.

 - Ramona Hattendorf, Director of Public Policy & Civic Engagement, The Arc of King County

The Inclusion Academy is recruiting for summer and fall 2024!

Shift systems. Promote equity.

Do you care about opportunity? 

Do you want to better understand disability rights and learn how to be a strong advocate?

Join The Arc of King County as we launch our 2024 cohort of the Inclusion Academy. This year, we are organizing this free academy into 3 sequences. You can sign up for 1, or all 3!

• To apply, click here
• For flier, click here

Applications are due May 27.

Our goal? Belonging, membership, and participation. For all. 

Who should apply? Young adults and older. Folks with disabilities, family members, and allies.

Disability is a type of diversity, and whether folks with disabilities thrive depends on how accessible and inclusive their community is. 

The Inclusion Academy

• Helps people make the connection between inclusion and well-being
• Identify barriers in systems that are supposed to help
  
• Explore disability history, rights, and justice; and 
• Learn how to shift systems through civic engagement
   
  

Classes are 2 hours and will be held online from 6 to 8 pm.

We hope you can join us for a community-building retreat beforehand and a graduation celebration after.

Sequence 1. Accessibility & Belonging in Public Education. (Preschool & K-12).

Thursday evenings, June 13 to July 18. No class the week of July 4. 

• What kids need to thrive: The research basis for inclusive learning.
• Disability rights: The legal basis for inclusive learning 
• UDL & MTSS (?!): Rethinking accessibility
  
• How school districts are organized
• Building a movement
  

Sequence 2. Unpacking Disability. 

Thursday evenings, August 8 to September 5.

• Disability is diversity
• Understanding ableism (and taking on hate)
• The goal: Holistic, person-centered, and wrap-around supports
  
• Disability justice: A framework for activism
• Building a movement

Sequence 3. Disruption.

Wednesday evenings, September 25 to October 16

• Voting: What’s so critical about this year’s election?
• Persuasion: How the legislative process works
• Advocacy: How change happens
• Wrapping it up: Messaging, framing, and finding your people

We will launch the academy with a community-building retreat on Saturday, June 8, and celebrate graduation on Saturday, October 26. You are welcome to take all three sequences but are not required to.

ADVOCACY SKILLS COVERED: Listening; analysis; presentation; vision planning; policy development; data mining; collaboration; and community building.

WHAT TO EXPECT: Each sequence will include 15 to 20 people learning together and from each other. We use presentations, small and large group discussion, activities, and reflection in our classes, and we offer additional resources online. Participants also often share resources with each other.

Please let us know on the application if you need any accommodations or interpretation support.