‘Keeping the Promise’ aid reimburses special ed costs

State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster announced allocation of $1.25 million in Keeping the Promise: High-Cost Special Education Aid to 123 local educational agencies that serve students with disabilities in 149 school districts.

“All children are entitled to a free appropriate public education,” Burmaster said. “However, some of our students have severe or multiple disabilities that require very specialized equipment and services that can cost three or more times the average expense for educating a student. This aid will help school districts offset some of the costs for these services.”

This is the third year Burmaster has allocated federal discretionary dollars for the Keeping the Promise: High-Cost Special Education Aid program. She developed the initiative in 2003 to compensate for a lack of both federal and state funding for special education services required under federal law. Data from the aid program substantiated the need for high-cost special education aid, which was included in the 2005-07 biennial budget. The first state payments of high-cost special education aid will be made in June 2007.

Claims for eligible costs for services to students with severe or multiple disabilities during the 2004-05 school year totaled $6.4 million, far outstripping federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) discretionary dollars allocated to this aid program. Aid went to 118 school districts, two cooperative educational service agencies, and three county children with disabilities education boards.

Eligible costs under the Keeping the Promise program include costs, except administration or leadership, related to educating a student with high-cost special education needs in the 2004-05 school year. Reimbursement from IDEA flow-through funds, Medicaid, and state special education categorical aids were deducted first. Keeping the Promise aid was then calculated at 90 percent of the amount by which the total cost after deductions of providing education and related services to an individual child exceeds $30,000. Reimbursement was then prorated so it didn’t exceed the $1.25 million available.

“Using this discretionary federal funding for Keeping the Promise aid provides immediate help to school districts that lack sufficient state or federal special education funding to serve their students with disabilities,” Burmaster said.

A list of school districts and other providers of special education services receiving Keeping the Promise: High-Cost Special Education Aid for services provided during the 2004-05 school year is available following the complete press release.

Last updated on 6/26/2006