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Stratford superintendent urges board to back state action on special-education costs
Summary
Superintendent Miss Cordes asked the board to sign letters urging state changes to excess-cost funding and oversight of private outplacement charges, and reported related activity at the State Board of Education and legislature.
Superintendent Miss Cordes told the Stratford Board of Education on Monday evening that she has joined other Connecticut superintendents in pressing state leaders to address rapidly rising special-education costs and to add oversight of private outplacement facilities.
Cordes said she co-signed letters with the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPS) and with the Southern Fairfield County Superintendents Group urging the state to fully fund the excess-cost grant and to revise the reimbursement formula. “We’re asking for the state to fully fund excess cost,” Cordes said, and to “put a cap on the amount of what out of district placements and transportation can charge us each year for the increases.”
The superintendent asked the board to consider a group letter of support that could be circulated to other boards of education and delivered to legislators; she proposed a short meeting on Monday to review and, if the board concurs, sign the letter as a group. Cordes said she would provide a draft for board review by Friday.
State-level work cited by a board member who serves on the State Board of Education echoed Cordes’s concerns. That member reported that the Connecticut State Department of Education has commissioned a study of annual rate-setting for private special-education services and is consulting states that already use rate-setting, including Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Vermont. The board member said the study began in December and will run through the legislative session, with updates expected in March.
The board member also reported activity of a special legislative task force on special education that is considering changes to the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula. “One of the recommendations was to modify the law so that special-education students also had a 25% weighting,” the member said; the task force report discussed a 50% weighting recommendation as well.
Board discussion focused on advocacy timing and tactics. Cordes encouraged board members and community members to submit testimony to the State Board or to legislative hearings, and offered to prepare guidance on how to advocate in Hartford and electronically. The board set a brief special meeting for Monday, Feb. 3 at 6:15 p.m. to review a letter of support for the state advocacy work and invited edits and comments prior to a planned submission.
The board did not take formal legislative positions during the meeting beyond setting the review for the draft letter; Cordes and the board member noted that legislation, appropriations and implementation details remain subject to the regular legislative and budget processes.
