Office of Special Education Fall Forum 2013

1. General Initiatives and the Role of Special Education Office of Special Education Fall Forum 2013

2. Michigan Department of Education Office of Special Education • Teri Johnson – Assistant Director of Special Education • John Andrejack – Supervisor • Harmonee Costello–Corrective Action Case Manager • Joanne Winkelman – Coordinator 2

3. Topics • IDEA Part B funds • Excess cost • Determining allowable costs • “Incidental” benefit • Role of the special education teacher • Co-teaching/team teaching • Response to Intervention/ Multi-tiered Systems of Support 3

4. Excess Cost Requirement • IDEA funds may only be used to pay the excess costs of providing special education and related services for children with disabilities • 34 CFR §300.202(a)(2 4

5. Excess Cost Definition • Costs in excess of the average annual per pupil expenditure (APPE) in an LEA during the preceding school year for elementary school or secondary school students • 34 CFR §300.16 5

6. Current Year Child Count (SWD) Preceding Year APPE Current Year Excess Cost Threshold Calculating Excess Cost 6

7. Part B-Excess Costs Calculation (Appendix A) Except as otherwise provided, amounts provided to an LEA under Part B of the Act may be used only to pay the excess costs of providing special education and related services to children with disabilities. Excess costs are those costs for the education of an elementary school or secondary school student with a disability that are in excess of the average annual per student expenditure in an LEA during the preceding school year for an elementary school or secondary school student, as may be appropriate. An LEA must spend at least the average annual per student on the education of an elementary school or secondary school child with a disability before funds under Part B of the Act are used to pay the excess costs of providing special education and related services. Section 602(8) of the Act and Sec. 300.16 require the LEA to compute the minimum average amount separately for children with disabilities in its elementary schools and for children with disabilities in its secondary schools. LEAs may not compute the minimum average amount it must spend on the education of children with disabilities based on a combination of the enrollments in its elementary schools and secondary schools. 7

8. Part B-Excess Costs Calculation continued First the LEA must determine the total amount of its expenditures for elementary school students from all sources--local, State, and Federal (including Part B)--in the preceding school year. Only capital outlay and debt services are excluded. Example: The following is an example of a computation for children with disabilities enrolled in an LEA's elementary schools. In this example, the LEA had an average elementary school enrollment for the preceding school year of 800 (including 100 children with disabilities). The LEA spent the following amounts last year for elementary school students (including its elementary school children with disabilities) (1) From State and local tax funds $6,500,000 (2) From Federal funds 600,000 =============== Total expenditures 7,100,000 8

9. Part B-Excess Costs Calculation continued Of this total, $60,000 was for capital outlay and debt service relating to the education of elementary school students. This must be subtracted from total expenditures. (1) Total Expenditures $7,100,000 (2) Less capital outlay and debt -60,000 =============== Total expenditures for elementary school students less capital outlay and debt $7,040,000 9

10. Part B-Excess Costs Calculation continued b. Next, the LEA must subtract from the total expenditures amounts spent for: (1) IDEA, Part B allocation, (2) ESEA, Title I, Part A allocation, (3) ESEA, Title III, Parts A and B allocation, (4) State and local funds for children with disabilities, and (5) State or local funds for programs under ESEA, Title I, Part A, and Title III, Parts A and B. These are funds that the LEA actually spent, not funds received last year but carried over for the current school year. Example: The LEA spent the following amounts for elementary school students last year: (1) From funds under IDEA, Part B allocation 200,000 (2) From funds under ESEA, Title I, Part A allocation 250,000 (3) From funds under ESEA, Title III, Parts A and B allocation 50,000 (4) From State funds and local funds for children with disabilities 500,000 (5) From State and local funds for programs under ESEA, Title I, Part A, and Title III, Parts A and B 150,000 =============== Total 1,150,000 10

11. Part B-Excess Costs Calculation continued (1) Total expenditures less capital outlay and debt (step a) 7,040,000 (2) Other deductions (step b) -1,150,000 =============== Total $5,890,000 11

12. Part B-Excess Costs Calculation continued c. Except as otherwise provided, the LEA next must determine the average annual per student expenditure for its elementary schools dividing the average number of students enrolled in the elementary schools of the agency during the preceding year (including its children with disabilities) into the amount computed under the above paragraph. The amount obtained through this computation is the minimum amount the LEA must spend (on the average) for the education of each of its elementary school children with disabilities. Funds under Part B of the Act may be used only for costs over and above this minimum. (1) Amount from Step b $5,890,000 (2) Average number of students enrolled 800 (3) $5,890,000/800 Average annual per student expenditure$ 7,362 12

13. Part B-Excess Costs Calculation continued d. Except as otherwise provided, to determine the total minimum amount of funds the LEA must spend for the education of its elementary school children with disabilities in the LEA (not including capital outlay and debt service), the LEA must multiply the number of elementary school children with disabilities in the LEA times the average annual per student expenditure obtained in paragraph c above. Funds under Part B of the Act can only be used for excess costs over and above this minimum. (1) Number of children with disabilities in the LEA's elementary schools 100 (2) Average annual per student expenditure $ 7,362 (3) $7,362 x 100 $ 736,200 Total minimum amount of funds the LEA must spend for the education of children with disabilities enrolled in the LEA's elementary schools before using Part B funds. 13

14. To be allowable under Federal awards, costs must meet the following general criteria: • Necessary and reasonable • Allocable • Adequately documented Determining Allowable Costs-General Principles2 CFR 225 BASIC GUIDELINES 14

15. Determining Allowable Costs continued • Allocable – costs must be allocable (prorated) • A cost is allocable to a specific cost objective if the goods or services in question are chargeable or assignable to the cost objective in accordance with relative benefits received • If a program is being charged 100% of the costs, then the program must receive 100% of the benefit • If other programs also benefit, then costs must be allocated based upon the relative benefits received 15

16. Determining Allowable Costs continued Example: Professional Development Costs • Costs can be charged to the grant as long as the Excess Cost requirement has been met. • Specifically, professional development costs must be necessary and reasonable for proper and efficient performance and administration of the grant and be allocable (prorated) or provide a benefit to the program • Document, document, document – Documentation must be maintained and that clearly support professional development costs charged to the grant 16

17. Determining Allowable Costs continued • Adequately Documented • Documentation must be able to speak for itself (no narration needed) • Must clearly show that the costs charged to the program are appropriately allocated relative to the benefit to the program • Must clearly show the allocation method and rationale 17

18. Generally, Part B funds may not be used for: • Non-special education instruction in the general education classroom • Instructional materials for use with non-disabled children • Professional development of general education teachers not related to meeting the needs of children with disabilities 18

19. Excess Cost (CAUTION! If Excess Cost test is not met, none of these costs would be allowable! • Special education funds must be used only to pay for the excess cost of special education: • Special education teachers and administrators • Related service providers • Materials and supplies for use with children with disabilities • Professional development for special education personnel • Related to meeting the needs of SWDs • Professional development for general education teachers who teach SWDs • Related to meeting the needs of SWDs • Specialized equipment or devises to assist children with disabilities 19

20. Except for: • Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) 34 CFR § 300.226 • School-wide programs under Title 1 of the ESEA 34 CFR § 300.206 20

21. Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) 34 CFR § 300.226 • An LEA may not use more that 15% of their Part B funds to develop and implement coordinated, early intervening services for students in K-12 who are not currently identified as needing special education or related services, but who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a general environment. 21

22. School-wide programs under Title 1of the ESEA 22

23. School-wide programs under Title 1 of the ESEA 34 CFR § 300.206 • Funds may be used to carry out a school-wide program under the ESEA: • The amount used may not exceed: • The amount of Part B received for the fiscal year divided by • The number of children with disabilities multiplied by • The number of children with disabilities participating in the school-wide program • The funds must be considered as Federal Part B funds for purposes of calculation • The funds may be used without regard to the requirements of 300.202 (use of amounts) 23

24. Incidental Benefit 300.208 (a)(1) • Services and aids that also benefit nondisabled children. For the costs of special education and related services, and supplementary aids and services, provided in a regular class or other educational –related setting to a child with a disability in accordance with the IEP of the child, even if one or more nondisabled children benefit from these services. 24

25. Informal Guidance from OSEP 25

26. Question and Answer • May special education personnel provide formal interventions in the context of a MTSS to students within a small group comprised of students with and without disabilities? • It depends… • MAY perform duties for children without disabilities if they would already be performing these same duties in order to provide special education and related services to children with disabilities. • May NOT grade papers, spend time on parent teacher conferences, or perform any functions for the children without disabilities not otherwise required as part of the provision of special education and related services to children with disabilities. 26

27. Question and Answer • May special education personnel provide formal interventions in the context of MTSS to students within a small group comprised solely of students without disabilities? • No. A special education teacher paid solely out of Part B funds, may not provide these interventions to students without disabilities. 27

28. Question and Answer • May special education personnel within the context of co-teaching/ team teaching and inclusion have *equal responsibility for the instruction of students not identified as students with disabilities? * Equal responsibility would be defined as whole group instruction, lesson plan development, and grading. • OSEP encourages States and LEAs to use a variety of service delivery models to meet their responsibilities to educate children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment, provided that all of the requirements of Part B are met. 28

29. Question and Answer • May special education personnel be permanent members of collaborative MTSS teams that determine whether to refer a student to special education based on data collected from interventions? • In order to ensure that child find provisions are met, special education personnel may be permanent members of collaborative MTSS teams that determine whether to refer a student for an evaluation to determine whether the student is a student with a disability based on data collected from interventions. 29

30. Question and Answer • May special education personnel be permanent members of collaborative MTSS teams that plan instructional interventions for students not identified as students with disabilities? • Special education personnel may share their expertise in addressing the needs of children with disabilities with other personnel, as this may be considered professional development for general education teachers to assist. • Special education personnel may not perform duties solely designed to help meet a child’s needs in the general education classroom for a student who is not currently identified as needing special education or related services. 30

31. General Initiatives and the Role of Special Education • Consider: • MiBLSi • RtI • Universal Design for Learning • Universal Screenings • Other general education initiatives • “ALL” “Universe” “General” • What is the INTENT of the law embedded in IDEA? • How can the use of funds support this intent? 31

32. Your turn… Other questions?? 32