Jan 22, 2025, Northern Light, Blaine, WA: Gaps in state special education funding impact Blaine school district families
The gaps in funding for special education illustrate funding problems that are being seen across school districts around the state.
State law enacts a cap on how much special education funding the state will cover for a school district. The state is required to cover special education costs for up to 17.5 percent of a school district’s student population, ranging from speech therapy to instructional aids.
However, if a district has 20 percent of its population using special education services, that 2.5 percent difference must be covered by the school district.
If neither the state nor the school district is able to provide a specific therapy, assessment or other help for students with disabilities, the cost is passed down to parents.
The Blaine school district received $4.2 million from the state to cover special education for the 2024-25 school year, but costs are projected to exceed $5.8 million. Since 2020, costs for special education have outpaced the state’s allocation by a total of $7.14 million, according to school district data.
Gina Bring, a parent of two Blaine students and an advocate for special education, said during the Fund Schools Now town hall on January 7 that her children have been denied special education opportunities due to funding shortfalls. Bring said their family has, on multiple occasions, been forced to find outside help for their children when the district had no means to cover the costs.
“The barriers we’ve encountered trying to understand and navigate this process have taken money, precious time and sometimes our sanity,” Bring said. “We’ve gone the route of supplementing our children’s education by paying for outside tutoring, assessments and therapies. Many families are unable to afford to take this route.”
Bring said in a follow-up interview that Blaine removed an intervention specialist from classrooms a few years ago who served as the lifeline for students with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities.
“They go through the system always being two steps behind their peers,” Bring said of children with dyslexia.
Blaine is not alone. In the Ferndale school district, 28 percent of its $3.4 million in special education funding for the previous school year was financed, costing the district more money in interest payments down the road, school board president Dr. Kevin Erickson said during the town hall.
The cap was set to 12.7 percent when it was established in 1995 and increased to 13.5 percent in 2017, then 15 percent in 2023. House Bill 2180, which became state law in June, increased the funding cap to 17.25 percent. . . .
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