Task force reviews high‑cost models, student‑based proposals for special education funding

Members of the Special Education and Related Services Funding Task Force spent much of a day reviewing how other states pay for high‑cost special education and considering whether Kansas should move from its current mix of categorical aid and catastrophic payments to a student‑based formula or to a broader reimbursement approach.

Jennifer Light, senior fiscal analyst with KLRD, told the task force that a 2023 ECS survey found 21 states use a high‑cost services model and walked members through Colorado and Massachusetts as close examples. “According to this survey, there were, there are 21 states which use a high cost services model for special education,” Light said. She noted Colorado and Massachusetts were chosen as models because they are institutionalized in statute or state law and because Massachusetts recently expanded its program under its Student Opportunity Act.

Why this matters: the method used to pay for high‑cost special education affects how much state money is needed, how quickly districts receive funds and whether districts that already carry the largest shares of special‑education costs would gain or lose under a new formula.

Models and cost estimates

Dr. Harwood, a Kansas Department of Education staff member who presented alternative funding approaches, reviewed two ends of the policy spectrum. He described a statewide “100% reimbursement” model (modeled on Wyoming for the task‑force exercise) in which districts would be reimbursed for eligible special‑education expenditures above federal funds; the packet used 2023–24 actual costs and showed a total cost around $954,000,000 compared with the state appropriation that year of $528,000,000 — an increase of roughly $438,000,000 if the state paid full reimbursement. “So this is a little bit different than the other models we've talked about because we have been talking about…