Officials warn special-education funding shortfall leaves millions unfunded

At a district budget forum, Gresham-Barlow School District leaders highlighted a mismatch between special education student shares and the state's special education funding thresholds that officials said leaves millions of dollars unfunded.

"We do get additional money for special education up to 11% of our student population. The challenge that we have as a district is our special ed population is over 15%," Superintendent Tracy Klinger said. She and finance director Pete Bejarano said that additional roughly 4% of students who would otherwise generate extra funding are not covered under current state formulas, and those costs must be borne from other district funds.

Klinger described the gap as an advocacy priority: district leaders have raised the issue with legislators and are seeking longer-term changes such as lifting the cap or increasing reimbursement for high-cost disability needs. She said those changes would represent "millions of dollars" to the district if enacted.

Panelists said the district is still reviewing program and staffing options and that while they are trying to protect services they cannot guarantee there will be no reductions to special education staffing. "I can't promise that there won't be some reductions to special education staffing, but it is something that we're looking really carefully at," Klinger said.

Klinger also flagged that some mental health partners providing services (for example, providers embedded through Multnomah County) face their own funding constraints, which can limit the district's ability to sustain current service levels even where the district prioritizes them.

Next steps: the district will use community survey results and budget committee deliberations in March and April to refine reduction scenarios and continue advocacy with state lawmakers about special-education funding formulas.