Relating to students who require special emotional, social, or behavioral supports in education, including calculations for funding and the establishment of regional special schools, and making appropriations

This bill relates to students who require special emotional, social, or behavioral supports in education, including calculations for funding and the establishment of regional special schools. The bill requires school districts to certify children requiring specialized emotional, social, or behavioral care for special emotional, social, and behavioral instruction in accordance with the requirements set up by the division of special education, and to provide examinations for children preliminary to making certification. The examinations necessary for the certification of children requiring specialized emotional, social, or behavioral care must be prescribed by the state division of special education. Disputes concerning a child’s eligibility for special emotional, social, and behavioral instruction must be addressed under rules and procedures adopted by the state board of education. In order to provide funds for the excess costs of instruction of children requiring special education above the costs of instruction of pupils in a regular curriculum, the state has a special weighting plan that allows children who require special education to have additional weighting when calculating a school district’s funding. The bill adds to the special education weighting plan children who do not require special education but whose emotional, social, or behavioral needs would prevent the child from academic success in a traditional general education classroom.2, which is the current weighting of children who require full-time, self-contained special education with little integration into a regular classroom. The bill includes children who require the use of therapeutic classrooms in the category of children with special emotional, social, or behavioral needs. Under current law, the school budget review committee must determine each year, as soon as possible after June 30, the balance of funds for each school district that was raised for special education instruction programs under the special education weighting plan. If the balance is negative, then the school budget review committee is allowed to take amounts appropriated to it from certain sources related to state aid paid to school districts to make supplemental aid payments to the district with a negative balance equal to the state aid portion of the district’s negative balance. However, a school district is only eligible to receive supplemental aid payments if the school district certifies to the school budget review committee that for the year following the budget year it will notify the school budget review committee to instruct the director of the department of management to increase the district’s modified supplemental amount and will fund the modified supplemental amount increase either by using moneys from its unexpended fund balance to reduce the district’s property tax levy or by using cash reserve moneys to equal the amount of the deficit that would have been property taxes and any part of the state aid portion of the deficit not received as supplemental aid. The bill alters the funding structure for schools with a negative balance of funds relating to special education instruction by requiring the department of management to make supplemental aid payments to the school district in an amount necessary to offset the district’s negative balance raised for special education instruction programs. The bill appropriates from the state general fund to the school budget review committee for each fiscal year an amount of moneys as necessary to be used for supplemental aid payments to school districts with negative special education fund balances. The bill authorizes a school district to acquire property located within the boundaries of a different school district for purposes of operating a regional special school if the boards of directors of both school districts agree to such acquisition. The division provides that a school district that operates such a regional special school may allow students who are not residents of the school district that operates the regional special school to attend the regional special school if the board of directors of the school district that operates the regional special school and the board of directors of the student’s resident school district agree to such arrangement. Additionally, the division provides that an agreement entered into between the boards of directors of school districts under these provisions may provide for sharing the costs and expenses of the acquisition of property for, and operation of, the regional special school. The division defines “regional special school” to mean an attendance center at which services associated with a therapeutic classroom, educational services for students participating in special education programs and services, or any other services for students who require special supports for behavioral issues, are provided.25A (therapeutic classroom —— claims) which allows school districts to submit claims to the department of education for the costs of providing therapeutic classroom services and related transportation services. The bill makes conforming changes.