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Committee debates boosting funding weight for highest-need special-education classifications
Summary
Members discussed adjusting ULM weights to increase funding for the highest-need special-education classifications (ULM 7–10), including options to offset increases by modest reductions at the lowest tiers or pursue direct targeted funding; staff were asked to run distribution and cost analyses.
A substantive portion of the meeting focused on what committee members described as necessary refinements to the unique learning needs (ULM) classifications used in the TISA weighted allocation. Bob Nardo, representing Libertas in Memphis, argued for heavier weighting at the top tiers and described the financial impact on districts serving a small number of very high-need students.
"Some other states we looked at had something like 200 or 250 or even 300% as the ULM weight for that small number of kids at the highest levels of need," Nardo said, suggesting the current top-tier weights are not sufficient to meet costs for severe needs students. He added that a single ULM 9 or 10 student can generate tens of thousands of dollars in expense for a district.
Other members warned about lowering weights at the lower tiers because districts budget for those allocations and because some districts may not have any high-tier students to which saved funds could be shifted. The committee asked staff to provide data on the geographic distribution of higher-tier ULM students and to run an analysis of the fiscal impact of different weighting approaches. Members agreed the committee could recommend increasing percentages for ULM 7–10 without prescribing exact numbers at this stage.
