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          Community Partnership's Michael Bailey on Special Ed

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What is the purpose of special education?

Special education is designed to provide accommodations, modifications and specialized curriculum necessary to enable youth and children with disabilities to access public education. Special education is fundamentally a civil rights law that is based on a long history of discrimination and exclusion of students with disabilities from public education.

Who receives special education?

Disability # of students % of students

Specific Learning Disability 33,941 45.94%
Speech and Language Impaired 18,358 24.85%
Other Health Impaired 4,350 5.89%
Emotionally Disturbed 4,344 5.88%
Mentally Retarded 4,273 5.78%
Developmentally Disabled 3,279 4.44%
Autism 2,548 3.45%
Hearing Impaired/Deaf 1,038 1.40%
Orthopedic ally Impaired 1,031 1.40%
Vision Impaired/Blind 388 .53%
Traumatic Brain Injury 309 .42%
Deafblind 28 .04%

(Census data 1999-2000 provided by the Oregon Department of Education)

How is special education funded?

• Federal funds: Federal IDEA dollars are approximately $625/child with a disability.
• State school fund: Eligible students generate a first basic amount and also generate a second basic amount (2X). These are unrestricted funds and may be used at the discretion of the school district. Local school districts may claim up to 11% of their student population. In reality many districts have higher than 11% eligible population.
• Grants in aid: These are dollars that are distributed by the Department of Education for specific groups of students including those in Youth Corrections Programs and students with low incident disabilities served by regional programs.
• ESD: Many school districts receive special education supports from educational service districts.

Issues and concerns:

• Special education funding including the formula, 11% cap and students who may require high cost supports.
• Perceptions vs. realities of special education.
• Inadequate teacher training and support.
• Implementation and accountability for achieving IEP goals.
• Increased adversarial relationships between parents and local school
  districts.

Information provided by the Oregon Developmental Disabilities Council and Community Partnerships. Contact Kathryn Weit: 1 800 292 4154 or Susana Ramirez: 503 364 9942 or Michael Bailey 503 282 6796.

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