Editorís note: This is the sixth article in a series about education issues, locally and nationally.According to the Colorado Department of Education 2014 Special Education Fiscal Advisory Committee report, as of the 2012-2013 school year, Coloradoís special education expenditures totaled $826,872,872. Of that amount, the federal share was 19 percent, the state share was 20 percent; and the non-reimbursed cost to the school districts represented $505, 653,071, or 61 percent.The cost to support students with disabilities is based on keeping those students with their non-disabled peers, said Randy Boyer, CDE assistant commissioner. ìFrom a philosophical standpoint, kids learn best with their peers,î Boyer said. ìEven the students that have more significant cognitive disabilities learn from their peers. They learn the basic fundamental applications and concepts right with their peers. They may need different levels of support, but they are more effectively taught.îBoyer said, prior to 1975, there were separate facilities for students with disabilities. Many of those facilities existed through the mid to late 1980s, he said. Today, there is only one such school in the state ñ- the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, Boyer said. The culture has shifted to one of built-in inclusion.The degree to which a student is included in the general education classroom depends on the severity of their disability, Boyer said. In Colorado, there are 13 categories under which a student could be considered disabled: autistic spectrum disorders; hearing impairment, including deafness; serious emotion disability; intellectual disability; multiple disabilities; orthopedic impairment; other health impairments; specific brain disability; speech and language impairment; traumatic brain injury; visual impairment, including blindness; deaf-blindness; and developmental delay.ìWe always start with each child in the general education classroom,î he said. The general education classroom is the least restrictive atmosphere, but if that environment is not working for the teacher and all the students, then a more restrictive environment is considered, Boyer said. A more restrictive environment could mean smaller class sizes and/or classes with more professionals on hand to provide necessary services to the student.ìThe general education teacher has to feel comfortable with addressing the needs of that student, and it depends on how disruptive that studentís behavior may be,î he said. ìYou canít just allow kids with acting-out behaviors or students with attention-getting behavior to disrupt an entire classroom. Itís a process of getting everyone comfortable; itís a balancing act.îZach Craddock, executive director of individualized education for Falcon School District 49, said all of the schools in the district practice inclusion. ìItís all based on what the individual student needs,î Craddock said. ìFull inclusion is great for some students but not great for others. Inclusion for the sake of inclusion is not the purpose.îCraddock said the districtís goal is to meet the needs of every student, which, depending on the type of support a student needs, can be costly. Although it varies, the average cost to educate a student with special needs is about $8,000 to $9,000, he said. The cost can be as high as $65,000 for a student who requires many different services, such as physical therapy, speech therapy and assistive technology devices, Craddock said.Boyer said the funding to support students with special needs is far from adequate. ìThe federal government has not met their obligation,î he said. ìThey were supposed to fund 40 percent of the excess cost for students with disabilities, but theyíre only doing 19 percent.îUnderfunding to such a degree has put a burden on local school districts, but they shoulder the financial burden because they want to meet the needs of their students, Boyer said.Funding can limit opportunities for students with disabilities, especially as it pertains to school of choice, where parents can choose schools for their children, Craddock said. ìA school of choice request can be denied if a program does not exist that a student needs; if it requires additional staffing; or if we do not have the physical space,î he said. ìPhysical space can be a problem in severe cases, like square footage restrictions, especially when it comes to wheelchair usage.îBecause charter schools have a specific mission or chartering authority under which they operate, they are not obligated to provide services for students with disabilities, Boyer said. ìParents can look into charter opportunities, and most charters are considerate of that,î he said. ìBut you would want to look at what the need of the child is in terms of special education, and if those services can really be provided at that charter. For more significant disabilities, it may not be possible.îBoyer said the individual education plan for each student can help determine if a charter school is a good fit for a particular student; if not, what would be a better fit. If a student moves into a facility that is a mismatch for them, it can be confusing, he said. The individual education planning team needs to be knowledgeable about the studentís needs and the abilities of each school to accommodate them, and then be able to communicate that to the parents, he said.The shortage of teachers trained to support students with special needs, coupled with underfunding in general, has spawned another problem, Boyer said. General education teachers have been taught the methodology to teach the average student; however, some teachers could have a student with autism or a traumatic brain injury, he said. In the latter case, a special education teacher could be helpful, but if a district cannot afford to hire additional staff, that child might not receive the best education possible, Boyer said.ìOne hundred and forty superintendents of the 178 school districts have signed a petition to fight against the lack of funding,î Boyer said. ìWhen you feel the $500 million being cut out of the general fund – dollars that could be going to other programs ó thereís something wrong there.î
