Louisiana

NOLA.com
Special education programs brace for loss of federal stimulus money
Published: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 10:57 PM

The drop-off in stimulus spending by the federal government is likely to put a dent in special education programs at some New Orleans schools, with the Orleans Parish School Board planning deep cuts in its special-ed workforce ahead of the next school year.

School districts across the country are bracing for the end of $100 billion in spending on public education provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in 2009 during the worst of the recession. As a part of the stimulus, the OPSB received more than $7 million over two years, said Stan Smith, the district’s chief financial officer.

Most of the money came with strings attached requiring it to go toward special-needs programs. So the district was able to dramatically boost the number of staffers devoted to special needs children and avoid some layoffs that would have happened otherwise as a result of a budget crunch, OPSB officials say.

But with the spigot turned off, Smith said the district will now have to cut more than 50 of its roughly 500 employees, most of them special-needs workers. He said that will bring the special-needs staff back down to somewhere between 20 and 25 people, serving students with disabilities ranging from autism to speech impediments.

The cutbacks will ripple beyond the five relatively high-performing schools the OPSB runs directly. The workers to be laid off also serve students at the district’s 11 charter schools, which receive public funding but are run by nonprofit groups.

“Any time you have that kind of loss it’s going to be difficult,” Smith said. “But we tried to be as prudent as we could in using this money for initiatives that could be carried out in a few years.”

Full article available here.

IDEA Money Watch comment: As we illustrate in our presentation, Impact over Time, this type of situation can happen easily, particularly if the school district reduced its local level of spending on special education and is not obligated to replace those funds when Recovery Act funding dries up.

From the GAO report, States Could Provide More Information on Education Programs to Enhance the Public’s Understanding of Fund Use, released July, 2010, the following information was collected via a GAO survey between March and April 2010 and through follow-up communications:

Special School District
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Award amount: $125,077

Special School District reported that it plans to use its Recovery Act IDEA award to focus on improving student performance. These funds will serve 550 special education students in 13 programs. Specifically, the funds will be used to purchase research-based, technology-rich instructional programs focused on literacy and numeracy, and provide professional development teachers with instructional materials and strategies. As a result of these funds, officials reported that they expect improved academic achievement, especially in literacy and numeracy areas, enhanced student engagement, and teacher growth. Officials indicated that their Recovery Act IDEA award activities have not started.

The Max Charter School
Houma, LA 70364
Award amount: $22,423
The Max Charter School reported that it used its Recovery Act IDEA award to improve academic progress and standardized tests scores for students with disabilities and at-risk students. These funds covered students districtwide, including approximately 65 students of the 106 enrolled at Max Charter School (61 percent of the LEA’s membership). Specifically, the funds were used to hire three part-time paraprofessionals to provide small-group instruction/remediation to at-risk and learning disabled students and to hire two instructional staff to provide after school remediation and tutoring to at-risk and learning disabled students. As a result of these funds, officials reported that the school was able to create five part-time instructional positions. Additionally, they said that the activities were expected to increase academic progress and proficiency and scores on standardized tests in English language arts and math for at-risk students and students with disabilities. School officials indicated that their Recovery Act IDEA award activities were less than 50 percent completed.

IDEAmoneywatch has obtained the ratings for every school district (LEA) in the state of Louisiana.

Louisiana has just received a “Needs Intervention” rating from the U.S. Dept. of Education — following two consecutive years of “Needs Assistance” ratings.  However, not a single district in the state received a “Needs Intervention” rating.

Louisiana will receive $188,749,525 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to improve services for its 78,002 school-aged students with disabilities.

We will report on how the state is using these additional funds and how the academic achievement of students with disabilities is improving as a result.

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