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MSDE work group asks agency to commission adequacy study of special-education funding
Summary
The Maryland Department of Education work group recommended MSDE commission an adequacy study within 90 days to evaluate special-education funding, multiple-weight models, transportation and nonpublic placement costs, and state–local cost-sharing; MSDE said it will provide short-term guidance to LEAs and a prioritized implementation timetable by July 15.
The Maryland Department of Education (MSDE) special-education work group on a June virtual meeting recommended that MSDE commission an adequacy study of the state’s special-education funding and report options, costs and contracting requirements within 90 days.
Joanne Hoffman, reading the work-group recommendations, said MSDE should identify “options, costs, potential funding and contracting requirements to commission an adequacy study of Maryland’s special education funding” that would consider multiple weights, the feasibility of minimum school funding, timing of disbursements, the cost of transportation and nonpublic placements, and the state–local cost-sharing formula. “This is basically an adequacy study with all of the sort of levels of nuance that folks identified,” she said while reading the draft motion.
The recommendation grew out of feedback summarized by MSDE staff that respondents saw current funding as inadequate and favored a multiple-weight funding approach tied to disability type and intensity of needs. At the meeting, several participants cautioned the study should account for current staffing shortages and staffing-related constraints that can skew measures of achievement and expenditure. “As long as we’re severely understaffed, the funding model won’t be representative of a true picture of achievement,” one classroom teacher said.
MSDE staff said the proposed study would examine staffing and how dollars relate to student outcomes as part of the commission’s work, and that the department’s finance office is already operating a new financial reporting system (a beta year in FY2024 with baseline FY2025). MSDE staff noted statutory obligations, citing Education Article 5-234 (the minimum school funding requirement), and said LEAs are reporting data into the new system; MSDE expects FY2024 financial data in August 2024 and monthly expenditure reporting in subsequent years, with fiscal-period data due by July 15 following each reporting period.
In addition to the adequacy study, the work group read three related recommendations: (1) within 60 days provide a written summary of recent work and timelines; (2) offer short-term guidance to LEAs on meeting the Blueprint minimum school funding requirement without undermining FAPE; and (3) issue steps to prevent supplantation of local special-education funds with Blueprint funds and to ensure budgeting and reporting capture special-education spending, including general-education costs and related services. MSDE said some wording in recommendation 4 needs refining to ensure the tasks are feasible and data-capturable by LEAs.
Participants did not take a formal roll-call vote during the virtual session; MSDE staff stated that recommendations 1–3 would be moved forward for follow-up and that the department will publish a prioritized implementation list by July 15 and convene small groups between July 15 and August 15 to refine next steps. MSDE also asked work-group members to complete exit tickets and said the interim report has been submitted to senior leadership and the AIB.
What’s next: MSDE will prepare the commissioning options and a timetable for the adequacy study, provide short-term guidance to LEAs, and return with a prioritized list and draft plans for stakeholder review; the work group’s next meeting is scheduled for July 31 on significant disproportionality.
