[A] proposed $200,000 pilot program touted as a way to improve special education in Vermont while cutting costs has been scaled back after some members of a House-Senate conference committee balked at the outlay.
In the end, the conferees agreed to reduce the price tag to $75,000. The pilot project was the only point of contention on the special education bill, which passed the Senate and House on Friday after a day of sometimes passionate negotiations by the conference committee.
The bill also will streamline special education payments by shifting them from the school level to the supervisory union level, where the responsibility for special education lies.
Also in the bill is $90,000 for a study of the block grant and fee-for-services system, which includes a lot of red tape and is blamed for causing more children to be identified as needing services. The study will look at other ways to help these students.
The pilot program that was the sticking point in negotiations had been championed by the House Education Committee. At the $200,000 level, it would modernize the delivery of special education in up to 10 supervisory unions that volunteered to participate. Proponents argued it would increase opportunities for students and cut costs.
“From our perspective this is really, critically important to improve education for kids,” said Rep. Emily Long, D-Newfane, a member of the conference committee. “Yes, there is spending attached to it. We have taken enough testimony and heard from the Agency of Education to be convinced this will save us money down the road. And not only savings, but significant savings.”
Long added that Vermont needs to make sure it is using special education money appropriately and using it to help kids, “because it isn’t happening right now.”
Opponents said they were against taking money out of the education fund at the same time lawmakers are telling localities they have to rein in school spending.
“We are getting a lot of pushback on spending any money. There is no money in the budget, the tax rate bills are set. We are getting pushback on taking any money out of the ed fund this year when we are trying to reduce tax rates,” said Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington, who was chairing the conference committee.
But Rep. Bernard Juskiewicz, R-Cambridge, said it was an important investment. “We are looking at an opportunity for children in the schools that don’t have the manpower to do this work,” he said, adding that if the return were even half of the $140 million that a team of consultants said the state could have saved last year on special education, then it would be worth it.
A study of Vermont’s education spending in the 2014-2015 academic year by Allan Odden and Lawrence Picus showed that the state could have saved $164 million, or 10 percent, on pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education. The bulk of that savings — $140 million — could be realized from changing the way the state delivers special education, they said.
Vermont currently spends $294 million a year for special education and identifies 16 percent of the state’s students as needing special education services. The Picus study said the latest research shows that a number of struggling students can often be helped with extra tutoring and other resources and can then return to the general education population.
The study highlighted the work of the District Management Council, a consulting service that boasts of having helped educators employ evidence-based methods to better teach special education students while managing the costs.
The pilot project was not specifically carved out for DMC, but it was used as a model when writing the law requesting proposals from vendors.
Franklin West and Chittenden South supervisory unions have worked with DMC and testified before the House Education Committee, calling it a positive experience.
Long said that when legislators started having hearings on this issue, the phone started ringing and emails starting coming in. “Superintendents were saying, “How do we sign up for this? We want to be part of this program because it is offering us something we’ve never had before and we know it is working,’” she said.
Supervisory unions that choose to participate would have to match the funding from the state — originally estimated to be about $25,000 over a two-year period. There was concern that poorer school districts might not be able to participate in such a study, but during the conference committee Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe said federal funds could help schools be part of the project.
Long predicted the program would be a watershed. “This is a program that down the road we will look back and say, ‘This is what changed the paradigm for the way we deliver special education services in Vermont, and it is saving money,’” Long said.
