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Special Education Fiscal Advisory Committee (SEFAC).
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Special Education Fiscal Advisory Committee (SEFAC) House Bill 06-1375 established the Colorado Special Education Fiscal Advisory Committee, by amending Article 20 of title 22, Colorado Revised Statutes. As specified in 22-20-114.5, the committee was appointed by the State Board of Education on September 14, 2006
Tier A and Tier B Funding • Tier A • $1,250 per identified Special Education child • Dollar amount dictated by statute and remains unchanged • Relatively stable Tier A child count 2. Tier B • $6,000 supplement for a limited percentage of eligible students • 22.3% of Tier A children qualify for Tier B • The following disability areas are eligible for Tier B funding: • Vision, Hearing, Deaf/Blind, Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability, Autism, Traumatic Brain Injury, Multiple Disabilities, and Significant Limited Intellectual Capacity
High-Cost (Tier C)Out-of District and In-District Beginning with the 2006-07 budget year, the General Assembly appropriated $2 million to fund grants to AU for reimbursement of high costs. The amount allocated is referred to as Tier C funding and is in addition to the amount received in Tier A and Tier B. An additional two million dollars was appropriated to reimburse AU’s for high cost students in 2008. The threshold for reimbursement was based on surveys that occurred in the field to produce a baseline.
A child eligible for high cost reimbursement is defined as any child with a disability, having an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), whose services cost more than the defined threshold, and the intensity of special education services and fiscal impact on the total district expenditures must differ significantly in the costs for other special education childrenin that administrative unit. Allowable costs should include only those incurred for the individual child, related to special education services, and not general education and/or special education costs that would otherwise already be incurredby the administrative unit.
Out of District High Cost Pool • Threshold = $40,000 minimum expenditures (includes: tuition, transportation, aids, specialized equipment) • The IEP must reflect the expenditures with clarity regarding personnel, placement, special transportation, equipment and ESY) • Calculation: Student expenditures/District audited expenses (CDE Financial December report)= overall district impact
IAU (In district) High Cost Pool • Threshold = $25,000 minimum expenditures (includes: tuition, transportation, aids, specialized equipment) • The IEP must reflect the expenditures with clarity regarding personnel, placement, special transportation, equipment and ESY) • Calculation: Student expenditures/District audited expenses (CDE Financial December report)= overall district impact
Example Out of District • District XYZ spends $57,512 on student A for the 2012-2013 school year. Total audited expenses for the district were $15,000,000. • $57,512/$15,000,000=.003834 or .38% impact • District ABC spends $95,995 on student B but has total expenditures of $35,000,000 • $95,995/$35,000,000 =.0027427 or .27% impact District XYZ has a greater impact even though the student cost less to educate
Example In District • Appropriate expenditures reflect those that would NOT be paid should the student exit services. • Student C requires a full time nurse 1 on 1, a full time 1 on 1 para, and another part time para to support moving and feeding of the student. All of these costs would be allowable however calculated % of time of the special education and related services personnel would not if their employment would continue without this student.
Who receives funding • Each year those districts and AU’s funded changes based on the application pool and costs of student needs • The formula provides a % of impact • Impact is ranked from greatest to lowest • Funding is provided to most impacted until $2,000,000 is gone
Trends Observed • Thresholds for those funded each year changes a great deal, 2010-2011 DATA: Applications Submitted: • 100 for out-of-district high cost students • 575 for in-district high cost students Number of Applications Funded: • The $2 million appropriated for out-of-district high cost students funded 37 (37%) of the 100 students • The $2 million appropriated for in-district high cost students funded 81 (14%) of the 575 students
Trends Observed Number of Administrative Units Receiving Funding: • 25 administrative units submitted applications for out-of-district high cost students; • 19 administrative units received funding for all or some of the applications submitted; • 28 administrative units submitted applications for in-district high cost students; • 13 administrative units received funding for all or some of the applications submitted.
Application process The application process will be posted in the SCOOP. The application documents can be found at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdespedfin/SEFAC.htm For questions regarding applications contact Reimbursement awards are typically provided inJune