South Carolina Education Finance Act of 1977 and Special Education Services

1. South Carolina Education Finance Act of 1977and Special Education Services February 28, 2012

2. Purpose of this Meeting • To follow-up to our previous discussions about EFA coding for students with disabilities. • What does the SC Regulations say? • What does IDEA say? • What does the SC Department of Education say? • What does this mean for you? • What are your options? • Why? • What happens?

3. Who is on this call? • Robbie • Beckie • Mike Jackson (Director of Finance - $) • Zenobia Ealy (Assistant Director for IT - PowerSchool).

4. What does the SC Regulations say? • SC R 43-172 ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING • 3. Specific qualifications criteria for exceptional programs • a. To be counted in membership in an exceptional program, a pupil must be at least five (5) years of age by September 1 of the current school year, except for hearing disabled or visually disabled pupils who must be at least four (4) years of age by September 1 of the current school year. • b. To be counted in membership in a disabilities program, a pupil must be placed in a program in specific compliance with Procedures for Survey, Screening, Evaluation, Placement, and Dismissal of Children Into/Out of Programs for the Disabled. • c. A pupil must maintain membership in a program designed for the appropriate disability and meet the time constraints for regular programs consistent with the provisions of the Defined Program. • d. An itinerant program is one where specialized instruction, materials, and/or equipment is delivered within the framework of a regular education setting. A resource room program is one in which mildly disabled pupils are enrolled for a portion of their education program and receive direct specialized instruction. A self-contained program is one in which the pupil receives full delivery of special education from one teacher. A homebound/hospitalized program is one in which the incapacitated pupil receives his educational program in accordance with the State Board of Education regulations.

5. What does the SC Regulations say? • e. Minimum number of minutes of instructional time per week or its equivalent for disabled pupils in resource, itinerant, self-contained and homebound models approved by the State Department of Education are as follows: • Minutes of Instructional Time Per Week or Its Equivalent • (1) Educable Mentally Disabled 250 • (2) Learning Disabilities 250 • (3) Orthopedically Disabled 250 • (4) Emotionally Disabled 250 • (5) Visually Disabled 250 • (6) Hearing Disabled 250 • (7) Homebound 250 • (8) Speech Disabilities 50 • (9) Trainable Mentally Disabled [FN*] • [FN*] Must meet time constraints consistent with the provisions of the Defined Program.

6. What does the SC Regulations say? • What does this mean? • In order to enter into PowerSchool an EFA Disability-Related code (a code that carries a higher weight than the base EL, MS, and HS codes), the child must: • Have a current IEP • Match the EFA Disability-Related Code with the cover page of the IEP* • Meet the minimum number of minutes of instructional time per week • *not necessary the primary disability, but the highest weighted disability.

7. What does the SC Regulations say?

8. EFA Weights Translated • An elementary student (EL-1.0) receives the EFA State Base Student Cost of $1,880.00 multiplied by 1.0 = $1,880.00 • An elementary student (EL-1.0) who is a child with a learning disability (LD-1.74) who receives at least 250 minutes of special education instruction receives the EFA State Base Student Cost of $1,880.00 multiplied by 1.74 (the higher weighting) = $ 3271.20 • An high school student (HS-1.25) receives the EFA State Base Student Cost of $1,880.00 multiplied by 1.25 = $2,350.00 • An high school student (HS-1.25) who is a child with a learning disability (LD-1.74) who receives at least 250 minutes of special education instruction receives the EFA State Base Student Cost of $1,880.00 multiplied by 1.74 (the higher weighting) = $ 3271.20 • A child who has a primary disability of a learning disability (LD-1.74), who has a secondary disability of speech/language (1.90) who receives at least 50 minutes of speech a week receives the EFA State Base Student Cost of $1,880.00 multiplied by 1.90 (the higher weighting) = $ 3572.00 • The above funds are in addition to the charter school funding which are weighted too ($1,700 for a virtual student and $3,250 for a brick-and-mortar student). • In addition to the $3,271.20 that a child with a learning disability receives, s/he’ll (B&M student) also receive the base student charter school funding of$3,250 multiplied by 1.74 $5,655.00 for a total of funding of $ 8926.20 (compared to an EL student w/o a disability = 5130.00)

9. What does IDEA Say? • Two of the fundamental requirements of IDEA are that the child will have an individualized IEP: • that allows the child to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) • in the least restrictive environment (LRE).  • Section IV of the IEPs is where the “services” are spelled out:

10. What does IDEA Say? • What are the service options: • Direct instruction and services are provided directly to a child by a special education teacher or related services professional. Direct service can be provided to an individual child or to a small group of children with similar needs. Direct instruction and services are provided to help a child meet the goals and objectives on the child’s IEP. For example, to address a goal for written language, a special education teacher could provide direct service in written language instruction • Indirect services are not provided directly to a child. Instead, a special education teacher or related service professional provides these services to others who are working directly with a child. Indirect services could include activities such as staff consultation with a regular education teacher on situations resulting from a child’s disability, modifying curriculum or environment for a child, observing a child, monitoring a child’s progress in a specific area, or monitoring equipment or assistive technology used by a child

11. What does IDEA Say? • IDEA does not say that all children must have an IEP that has at least 250 minutes a week in order to qualify for special education. • IDEA does not say that all children who attend a particular program/school have “carbon-copied” IEPs. • IDEA does not define the services based on the disability category. • IDEA does not define a ratio of direct to indirect services. • IDEA does say that an individualized plan must be developed in order for the child to: • Have access to the general curriculum • Be instructed in the general curriculum • Progress through the general curriculum

12. What does the SC Department of Education say? • In a response to a letter dated 4/13/05, the SCDE OEC wrote: • The current definitions for itinerant, resource, and self-contained are as follows: • Itinerant services are any combination of direct and/or indirect special education services where the student is removed from the general education setting for less than 21 percent of the school week. (Note: Please be aware, as we discussed that this applies to ALL itinerant services for ALL categories of disabilities. Itinerant can be all direct, all indirect, or a combination of direction and indirect, based on the decisions of the IEP teams, as individualized for each student.) • Resource services are special education services outside of the general education class for at least 21 percent of the school week but not more than 60 percent of the school week. • Self-contained services are special education services outside of the general education class for more than 60 percent of the school week.

13. What does the SC Department of Education say? • A student must receive a minimum of two hundred fifty minutes of special education services per week or its equivalent to qualify for funding under the Education Finance Act (EFA) as a student with a disability. The IEP team, however, must determine the appropriate amount of time, and this determination must not be linked to funding issues. Note: If there is less than 250 minutes weekly for any category of disability other than speech as noted below, the student can be counted for federal funding, but not for state funding, as long as there is a properly constituted and developed IEP in place.

14. What does the SC Department of Education say? • Although a teacher credentialed in special education must provide instruction to all students with disabilities, when the student is placed as itinerant the services can be provided through collaboration with general education teachers. The IEP must be descriptive in explaining specifically what services the student is receiving. The description of services must be included in the “modifications to general education” section of the IEP.

15. What does the SC Department of Education say? • The only services that qualify as direct services are those that are provided by the special education teacher directly to the student. When the teacher pulls the student from the general classroom to work in a one-on-one situation, this is also considered a direct service. A co-teaching, collaborative, or consultative model may be comprised of itinerant direct or indirect services, or a combination of the two. If the general education teacher, as directed by the special education teacher, provides the services, the services are considered indirect services. Because the services are not provided outside the general education class, they must not be counted as resource services.

16. It may be helpful to document the indirect services by the special education teacher to reflect the amount of time services were provided and the types of services provided (e.g., developing materials in braille for the student, providing consultation services to the general education teacher of the student, observing in the classroom to provide feedback to the general education teacher, providing an after-school presentation for general education teachers on specific learning and teaching approaches—for autism, this could include approaches such as visual supports, communication, socialization). Services provided by the student’s general education teacher, as directed by the special education teacher (e.g., carrying out an individualized behavior management plan, providing help to the student with assistive technology), may be documented by the special education teacher along with all other indirect services.

17. Only services specifically provided for the student may be counted in determining the amount of services stated on the IEP and used in calculating the minimum amount of time (two hundred fifty minutes weekly) required to request funding under the EFA. Clerical tasks performed by all teachers, such as ordering supplies, scheduling meetings, and talking with parents cannot be counted in determining the amount of services for each individual student. Travel time may not be counted. The amount of services provided to a student with a disability must be clearly stated in the IEP. Please be reminded that the IEP must be descriptive in explaining specifically what services the student is receiving.

18. What does the SC Department of Education Say? • The Bottom Line: • IEP teams cannot make decisions based on funding. and • All decisions of the IEP team must be supported through data (present levels).

19. What does this mean for you? • Schools will need to review their EFA codes in PowerSchool to ensure that the EFA disability-related reporting requirements are met: • The child has a current IEP • The EFA disability code matches the cover page of the IEP • The child meets the minimum instructional requirements for that EFA category. Your 135 report must be an accurate reflection/representation of every individual child.

20. What are your options? • Make sure your IEP accurately reflects all of the special education/related services and accommodations being provided to the student. • During the above IEP review, if you find that all the special education services that you are providing to the child are reflective of the IEP, you are obligated to hold an IEP meeting to review/revise these services to ensure that it is accurately reflected in the IEP (section V). • During the above IEP review, if you find that the child is not making progress towards his/her annual goals, then as an IEP team, you have the responsibility to hold a special review and review/revise as needed. • If the IEP has less than 250 minutes of services (or 50 for speech), you have to ensure that the EFA code is not the special education code (it’s the general education code). • If the IEP has more than 250 minutes of services (or 50 for speech), you verify the EFA disability-related EFA code matches the highest weighted disability.

21. WHY? • The current SC Pupil Accounting System says its required and all of your charters state that you will follow the guidelines of the SC Pupil Accounting System. • This is a State Board of Education Regulation • Each year our district is audited to review and verify the reports that lead to state and federal funds. • The SCDE Office of Exceptional Children has begun conducting a cyclical on-site monitoring process. This is one area that they will be reviewing.

22. What happens when there is a discrepancy? • One of two things could happened if a discrepancy is discovered by our auditors: • A letter of finding is issued in which the district (the school) will need to create a plan to address and correct the discrepancy. The plan will also include a way to prevent this from happening in the future. • Return of funds could happen if the auditors/State feel is a ongoing or systemic issue.

23. Questions • Special Education • Robbie (rcompton@scpcsd.sc.gov) • 803/734-8067 • Beckie (rdavis@scpcsd.sc.gov) • 803/734-8067 • Finance • Mike Jackson (mikejacksonemj@yahoo.com) • 803/734-8017 • PowerSchool • Zenobia Ealy (ZEaly@scpcsd.sc.gov) • 803/734-4151