Senate Republican Leader John Braun and Rep. Peter Abbarno, both Republicans from Centralia, will lead a legislative effort in 2024 to streamline access to additional special education funding, according to a news release from the lawmakers.
To help school districts with extraordinarily high special education costs, the Legislature enacted a “Safety Net” program decades ago. Many districts, however, have found the process of applying for the funding to be overly complicated and burdensome, especially for small school districts with limited staffing resources.
Simple errors can result in funding-award reductions of up to 45%, according to the release.
The 20th District lawmakers have introduced identical bills in the House and Senate that would ultimately simplify the Safety Net application process by reducing administrative barriers. Their legislation also would reform how applications are reviewed, which should aid districts in obtaining the added funding, according to the legislators.
“The Legislature can and should be doing much more to make our state’s special education system more responsive to parents and the students it’s supposed to serve,” Braun said. “While there is still work to do on how districts are allowed to use special education dollars, let’s also work on getting them more funding to begin with. The fact that this idea came to us from local school officials tells us it should benefit many districts.”
Abbarno said the state must do more to ensure it is providing every student in Washington with a quality education.
“Special education has not received adequate attention in recent years, especially during the pandemic,” Abarrno stated in the release. “Making it easier for school districts to access supplemental funding is a good first step.”
The proposal earned praise from a Chehalis School Board member.
“We appreciate our local legislators hearing our feedback and assisting in finding solutions. This bill concept came from our local Lewis County school board/superintendent meetings,” Kelsi Hamilton, a member of the board, said in the news release.
“Penalties for errors in an overly burdensome and meticulous application process are unfair to school districts when the services have already been provided,” she said.
“We are hopeful that this collaborative bill will pass and make it easier and more equitable for all school districts to access the critical funds required to meet the needs of our special education students.”
The 2024 legislative session will convene Jan. 8.
