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abuses.
r Tammy

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Baldwin, thanks for your
time.

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>> A major compromise
included in the new state

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budget says the state will
provide 90% of the funding

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for high cost special
education students. To

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detail how this will impact
schools, we are joined by

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two members of the Waunakee
School District. Steve

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Summers is the executive
director of business

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ns, and Tiffany
Logan is the director of

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special education. Thank
you both for joining us.

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>> Thank you for having us.
>> Tiffany, let's start

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with you. Give me the quick
definition of high cost

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special education student.
And how many do you have in

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Waunakee?
high

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cost, it's any student that
their services meet the

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threshold of $30,000 or
more for that individual

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student. So in our district
we have between 60 and 70

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students that would meet
that threshold, at least

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for last. This last year,
they met about 60 to 70

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students.
at's the

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financial impact of going
to 90% from, you know, mid

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Leow to low 30%?
>> Sure. The reimbursement

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level that we received in
2425 was about $300,000. We

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expect that's going to
increase by about $400,000

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this year and another
350,000 the following year.

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So very significant
investment from the state

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into this program.
>> And so what is the plan

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for how that money will be
spent? Where will it be

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redirected in the budget?
>> We did decide. We took

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to the school board
proposal to begin a new

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program, an alternative
program for elementary age

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students that need a little
more intensive support than

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what we can provide in a
regular education classroom.

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And the board was really
supportive because of this

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additional funding, because
we could speak to using the

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high cost funds to fund the
program. And it's starting

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starting this week.
>> So is there an

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obligation for districts to
keep that money in special

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education, because some
districts have had to pull

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from general ed to fund
special education?

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>> Yeah, the increased
funding does go into our

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special education fund in
some district case that may

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reduce the transfer that is
needed from the General

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Education Fund to the
special ed fund in our

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district. We will partner
together between the

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business office and the
special ed office to

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improve or increase our
investment in students who

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have IEPs, whether it's the
program that Tiffany's

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referencing or whether when
we need to add an

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additional one on one
paraeducator for students

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o move in. But we tend to
utilize the funds to

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increase the services for
students with IEPs.

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>> So, Tiffany, there are
already skeptics saying

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that schools are going to
push more kids into this

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category to try and grab
more state dollars. Should

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we expect to see an
increase in the number of

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kids that have this
definition applied to their

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IEP?
>> I don't think you'll see

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an increase in the number
of students. I think what

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you're going to see in
future years is an increase

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in the number of districts
that are applying for high

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cost, special education aid.
Now that the the percentage

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is increasing, there's more
of an incentive for

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districts to apply for that
aid. So I don't think

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you're going to see a
student increase, but

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tely additional
districts applying for

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those funds.
districts

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before that weren't
providing all the services

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that potentially they could
have to some of these

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students because they
couldn't afford it or what

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was the rationale there?
>> So in the last fiscal

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year, there were about 270
organizations or school

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districts that applied for
this funding. And there's

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more than 400 school
districts in Wisconsin. So

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for many of them, they
determine that the

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reimbursement level that
was coming back wasn't

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significant enough for the
investment in the time to

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go through and file the
claim. For others, they may

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not have identified
students that were $30,000

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or more and above. Tiffany
and I are partnering with

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our professional
organizations this year to

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help provide professional
development across the

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state. We do expect more
schools to learn about this

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system, how it works, and
because of the increased

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investment from the state,
we are expecting more

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districts are going to be
willing to spend the time

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necessary to really apply
for and manage these funds.

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>> So the state budget also
included a jump in the

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reimbursement rate for
regular special education

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om 32% to 42%. Is that a
bigger number overall for

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most schools than this high
cost?

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>> Yes, it's a
significantly bigger number

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for most schools than the
high cost. In our case is

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an example. It's an over
$800,000 increase in

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additional funding for
l ed students in 2526,

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and it's the largest
increase I've seen in my

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career. So it's significant
and what it's going to

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allow most schools to do is
to benefit all students. I

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think it's important to
that an increase in

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funding for special
education students benefits

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the entire school system.
Students, both with and

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without IEPs, because when
a school special education

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fund is not funded
correctly, the fund ten or

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the general fund has to
reimburse, which removes

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opportunities for students
who don't have IEPs. So it

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truly benefits all kids for
special ed funding to be at

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a more appropriate level.
>> And Tiffany, working

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with these kids can be very
rewarding, but it can also

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be very challenging. And
there's a lot of turnover

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in some of these paid
staffing positions. Could

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you see an increase in
funding for wages to try

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and keep more consistency
there?

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>> Yeah, I think that I
think that could be a

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possibility. I think it
will. Increasing wages

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definitely helps you to
recruit people and be able

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to keep them. I mean, just
example, for our district

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alone, we had 12 full time
positions open this summer

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and we're very close to
being full staffed. But

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it's definitely difficult
to keep people, especially

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in our paraprofessional
positions, who are really

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working with some of our
highest needs students.