By Kimberly Beltran
Friday, March 22, 2013
A legislative finance panel on Thursday recommended adoption of a majority of Gov. Jerry Brown’s special education funding proposals, including revisions to the formula used to determine how much money each district receives to provide services to students.
But the Senate subcommittee on education finance proposed adding to the mix a recommendation from the Legislative Analyst that would further adjust the funding formula to provide support for disabled students that is more equitable from one district to the next.
“There are people who end up getting a lot more money for a variety of reasons…there’s just some goofy stuff,” said Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Los Angeles. “The [current formula] doesn’t take into account what the disability is. If I’ve got a child with spina bifida versus an autistic child, the spina bifida child is going to cost a whole lot more money. If your school district has a disproportionate number of high cost special needs children, it’s going to cost you more.”
The LAO’s recommendation would not allocated money based on disability but, instead, would include in next year’s