IDEA Money Watch has obtained the information submitted by the Wisconsin Dept. of Education to the U.S. Dept. of Education regarding reduction to local spending (maintenance of effort or  MOE) and use of federal IDEA funds for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) for each school district for the 2009 fiscal year. Get Wisconsin information here. (PDF,  60 pgs).

This information is important because it indicates if school districts reduced local spending in light of IDEA Recovery Act funds in FY 2009. IDEA does not require that local districts replace these funds when the Recovery funds run out, putting services for students with disabilities at risk.

MPS budget proposal cuts nearly 1,000 jobs

Thornton cites loss of grants, reduced state spending

By Erin Richards of the Journal Sentinel

May 3, 2011

Nearly 1,000 full-time staff positions in the Milwaukee Public Schools – mostly teaching and teacher coach jobs – would be eliminated under a 2012 budget proposed Tuesday.

Superintendent Gregory Thornton’s called his proposal one of the most challenging MPS has ever seen, largely because of the proposed state budget that reduces spending on K-12 education. His budget proposal for next year is 13.5% smaller than the budget under which the district is operating.

The proposed budget calls for eliminating transportation for the district’s youngest bus riders, reducing summer-school options, increasing elementary school class sizes, raising school lunch prices slightly, deferring building maintenance, and delaying adoption of new textbooks and educational materials.

“When you have a cut of this magnitude, things will not stay the same,” Thornton said before the start of the board’s Strategic Planning & Budget committee meeting Tuesday night. A public hearing followed, and another hearing will be held Thursday.

Thornton’s proposed budget totals about $1.17 billion, about $182 million less than last year. Thornton said the cuts include $81.6 million as a result of state revenue reductions.

The district also will lose an additional $95.5 million in grant funding. That moneycovers the cost of some popular programs such as math coaches and school nurses.

Most of the grant funding loss – about $82 million – is because of a drop-off in funding from the federal stimulus package, which was set to last through the end of 2011.

Full article: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/121218189.html

State Rejects Greenfield Plan for Use of IDEA Stimulus Funds

By Amy Hetzner of the Journal Sentinel

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has rejected the Greenfield School District’s plan to use federal stimulus dollars to construct seclusion areas for students with disabilities and informed districts statewide that federal special-education funds should not be used for such purposes.

The Greenfield School Board in December approved a plan that would have used $131,000 of the more than $1 million it received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to construct seclusion and segregation areas at its elementary and middle schools. Part of the money also would have gone to construct a life-skills classroom at the middle school to prepare cognitively disabled students for life after high school.

District administrators described the seclusion areas as isolation areas where teachers could work with disruptive students in a separate space from their special-education peers. The segregation areas would give students a place to calm down when they became agitated within their classrooms.

Full story is here.

IDEA MONEY WATCH COMMENT: We are grateful that the WI DPI rejected the Greenfield proposal … but this action doesn’t eliminate the use of seclusion areas in Wisconsin schools.

In response to the report on Greenfield School District’s request for state approval to use IDEA ARRA funds for construction of “seclusion areas” for students with disabilities, the WI Dept. of Public Instruction issued the following statement:

“Due to the federal discussion and possible legislation regarding the use of seclusion, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), as of this date, will not approve requests submitted to the department for the use of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or IDEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for construction or remodeling of seclusion rooms.  Pending federal legislation or additional federal guidance, we remind you that seclusion of students must be in accordance with DPI’s directives for the appropriate use of seclusion.

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in a letter to Chief State School Officers this summer, stated that as education leaders, our first responsibility must be to make sure that schools foster learning in a safe environment for all our children and teachers.  Secretary Duncan suggested an appropriate use of IDEA ARRA funding to address behavioral issues is implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). PBIS provides a framework for decision making that guides the implementation of evidence-based academic and behavioral practices throughout the entire school, frequently resulting in significant reductions in office disciplinary referrals, suspensions, and expulsions.  PBIS is an important preventative approach that can increase the capacity of the school staff to support children with the most complex behavioral needs, thus reducing the instances that require intensive interventions.

If you have questions about your IDEA budgets, please feel free to contact the consultant responsible for your LEA’s budgets. Thank you for your cooperation on this important issue.”

IDEA MONEY WATCH responds: Advocates are grateful for the WI Dept. of Public Instruction position on this…we do, however, think that construction of “seclusion” areas should not be considered an “excess cost of special education” and, therefore, not an allowable use of federal IDEA Part B funds — either regular annual appropriations or ARRA funds.

The Manitowoc School District has implemented several initiatives using the federal stimulus money it was awarded in 2009. According to this report, the district has reduced its local spending on special education by half of the amount of the stimulus funding and moved that amount — $700,000 – to its general education fund.

The full article is here.

IDEA MONEY WATCH :: On December 20, 2009, the Milwaukee Sentinel published a followup story to the story that appeared in the Greenfield Now paper, reporting that the story had generated “concern” among those working to end the use of seclusion areas.

According to Greenfield officials, seclusion “areas are a necessary part of serving students with disabilities…” We think not. If that were the case, every school in the nation would need such a room…

In this case, we think WI state Rep. Sandy Pasch is correct! “If you build a room, I think there’s a message that, ‘Thatroom is there, use it,’ ” Pasch said.

The full story is here and pasted below:

The Greenfield School Board’s decision to use federal stimulus dollars to construct “seclusion areas” in its schools has sparked opposition from those working to end such practices for students with disabilities.

The state Department of Public Instruction, which has to sign off on the infrastructure plans, also intends to scrutinize the project after department officials read an account of it in the Greenfield NOW newspaper.

“Something in that triggered some concern,” DPI spokesman Patrick Gasper said. He said state officials will have to make sure that the project complies with federal law, which specifies that special-education students be taught in the “least restrictive environment,” as well as DPI directives on the appropriate use of seclusion methods as a last resort.

The Greenfield board voted last Monday to construct seclusion and segregation areas at its elementary and middle schools, using about $131,000 of the more than $1 million it received this year from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for programming for special-education and low-income students.

The money also will be used toward creating a life-skills center at the middle school to prepare cognitively disabled students for life after high school, said Todd Bugnacki, Greenfield’s assistant superintendent of elementary and middle school services.

The seclusion areas would be part of existing special-education classrooms, providing an area where disruptive students can try to gain control, he said. The areas would not have doors, but walls and windows would isolate the student from the rest of the class as staff work with the student, Bugnacki said.

Segregation areas also would be created to give students time-out areas within special-education classrooms where they can settle down when they become agitated, he said.

Bugnacki and Greenfield Superintendent Conrad Farner said the areas are a necessary part of serving students with disabilities who sometimes need to have quiet places where they can gain control of themselves. The district has used makeshift areas for such a purpose but was criticized this year by the DPI for placing a middle-school student in a time-out area blocked off by file cabinets and a wall, Farner said.

“Our goal is for the facilities to be the most appropriate and most effective to meet our students’ needs,” he said.

But state Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay), who introduced legislation this year restricting the use of seclusion in schools, called the district’s plan an “unfortunate” use of stimulus dollars.

The money would be better spent training teachers on methods of controlling special-education student behavior without removing kids from their peers, she said.

“If you build a room, I think there’s a message that, ‘That room is there, use it,’ ” Pasch said.