House Concurrent Resolution #34, introduced on June 29th last year, will be on the agenda for the House Education Committee meeting tomorrow. One line in the legislation offended many, including myself, when it was brought to my attention.
WHEREAS, special education represents a growing financial burden on school districts as the need for services increases.
I can pretty much guarantee any parent of a student with disabilities would take offense to that wording. While it is true that special education costs have risen over the past decade, referring to those costs as a “financial burden” is not a wise choice of words. Schools have an obligation, under both state and federal law, to provide those services regardless of cost. Which is exactly how folks took it on social media last night. I do not think that was the intent of the legislators who sponsored the bill.
As well, parents took offense to there only being one slot on this task force for a parent. That seat would be determined by the Delaware PTA. The bill has an odd mix of sponsors. With the majority of the sponsors as Republicans, some wondered why Democrat State Senator Nicole Poore would sign on as the prime Senate sponsor. In addition, Democrat State Rep. Ed Osienski also signed on as a co-sponsor.
State Senator Brian Pettyjohn joined in on the conversation and doubted the resolution would appear in the Delaware Senate.
Last week, news from Texas regarding allegations against the Texas Education Agency shocked Americans everywhere. A report said the TEA was limiting the number of special education students in The Lonestar State since 2004. Their special education population dropped from 11% to 8% over a seven-year period even though most states saw dramatic increases in those student populations. Many blame caps instituted by the Texas legislature on special education funding. Which is eerily similar to the recommendations a task force like this could come out with.
While I don’t believe there was ill intent with this legislation, the optics on it could not be worse. In conjunction with the news from Texas, a lawsuit filed by the Delaware ACLU today against the state has special education funding as part of the overall complaint with education funding.
I have been saying for years that Delaware needs to revamp how they submit payments in their state financial system. No one follows the recommended spending codes so it is impossible to track how money is being spent. Especially with special education. That should be an easy problem for our legislators to fix but no one wants to take up the baton. Not sure why. It isn’t a change to the Delaware Constitution. It would be a simple bill mandating our school districts and charter schools accurately code expenditures in a uniform process. And the Delaware Department of Education would have to oversee this and implement regulations in regards to Delaware state code. Any task force, committee, workgroup or other such thing looking at any facet of education spending is useless until this is done first. Which legislator wants to twirl a baton? Anyone?
Meanwhile, HCR #34 is on the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting. Delaware State Education Association President Mike Matthews said DSEA does not support the legislation on one of the Facebook posts that came out last night. I would hope that when legislation like this comes out that our state legislators would look at the wording of their bills or resolutions. The people are watching them.
The Season Of Myths 