Part B Special Education Funding for Charter Schools
In 2014, the Association began investigating IDEA Part B funding for special education students after several charter schools raised concerns. Based on our research, 268 LEAs — district and charter — did not receive IDEA Part B Basic funding for their special education population, because according to the 1998 census they had no special education students.
Based on member feedback, we provided a webinar to help our schools understand how to get access to the Charter School Expansion Act (CSEA) grant, which is intended to address special education enrollment discrepancies
The IDEA Part B grant provides additional federal support for students based on a formula that considers the school’s 1) special education student enrollment, based on the 1998 Census, 2) the percent of the state’s poverty and 3) the percent of the state’s population. In this formula, the school’s special education enrollment receives the greatest funding at $513 per student; whereas the percentage of students in poverty and percentage of the population are funded at $29 and $91, respectively.
Charter schools that opened after 1998 or have experienced a significant increase in their special education enrollment are eligible to submit data to the Department through the Charter School Expansion Act (CSEA) grant. This grant is intended to address special education student enrollment discrepancies. Based on our research and findings, it is clear that charter schools need additional training and support regarding the CSEA and its ongoing use to make sure that they are receiving full funding for their special education students. This lack of training and support has resulted in significant underfunding to schools.
The Association used the 2015 IDEA Basic Entitlement data available online and merged estimated special education enrollment data from the AIMS testing file to determine the impact of special education students that are unaccounted for. This method is likely to result in a lower than expected number for each school because the AIMS data file only includes FAY special education students. Special education students in grades K-2, 9, 11 and 12 who aren’t retesting are excluded from this data. Regardless, this methodology resulted in 268 LEAs, district and charter, that did not receive IDEA Part B Basic funding for their special education population, because according to the 1998 census they had no special education students.
Therefore, these schools are only receiving IDEA Part B Basic funding for their percentage of state poverty and percentage of state population. Since each special education students’ (from the 1998 census) base level support is $513, these schools are being underfunded significantly. The total underfunding for these LEAs from IDEA Part B is $2,242,639.52. The true results, even given the likely underestimation, are staggering.
