Special Education

Private Schools in Pa. Lobby State to Pay Up Old Debts

By Mary Ann Zehr — April 07, 2004 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Pennsylvania’s system for subsidizing private schools that are eligible to receive public money for serving children with severe disabilities has broken down—and state leaders are struggling to come up with solutions to fix it.

The state has fallen behind by at least $23 million—and possibly as much as $16 million more, depending on the interpretation of audits of schools’ expenditures—in reimbursing the 30 “approved private schools” and four charter schools that educate some 4,000 Pennsylvania children with severe disabilities. Many of those schools are still owed money from the 2000-01 school year.

The label “approved private schools” is misleading. Under a system established in 1963, the schools serve only children who have been placed with them from public schools, and thus are dependent on public funds. Pennsylvania provides 60 percent and the local school district antes up 40 percent of the money to pay for a special education student to attend an approved private school.

Tapped Out

The line item in the state’s budget for such services has run short of the schools’ expenses since 1999. A separate account—the audit-resolution fund—that the state dipped into in recent years to close that gap ran dry for the first time this fiscal year.

How to resolve the issue is part of the debate that lawmakers are embroiled in as they try to agree on a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

“The schools provided in good faith the educational services and are due those monies. We shouldn’t be proposing new programs until our obligations are met,” said Rep. Carole A. Rubley, a Republican, who believes the budget should include enough money to cover the current debt to the approved private schools and charters.

But Rep. James R. Roebuck Jr., the Democratic chairman of the House education committee, said it’s not clear how the legislature would come up with adequate funds to fill the gap in the short term.

“We have to look at the whole scope of the problems,” he said, citing, for instance, how the private schools are audited. “I’m not sure we should measure the amount of money spent, but rather the success of the effort.”

Still, he agreed with Ms. Rubley that the schools must somehow be paid in full for whatever services they’ve provided so far.

Gerald Zahorchak, the deputy secretary for elementary and secondary education for the Pennsylvania education department, said the state is not legally obligated to reimburse the approved private schools on the difference between what’s in the state budget and their expenditures for the students. “We can only pay what we have,” he said in an interview last week.

But Mr. Zahorchak also indicated that the department was trying to come up with ways to pay the schools in full, while also fixing the problem in the long run.

‘Making a Stink’

In February, the education department sent letters to some of the schools, saying the state would pay half of what the schools were owed for the 2000-01 school year and calling that amount a final payment for that year.

It was such a letter that spurred Ernest E. Brattstrom Jr., the executive director of the Vanguard School in Paoli, Pa., one of the affected schools, into political action. “That’s when we started making a stink,” he said.

Mr. Brattstrom began traveling to Harrisburg, the state capital, to lobby legislators on the problem. On March 25, his school hosted a delegation of House Republicans who held a hearing on the issue.

Just two days earlier, parents with children enrolled in approved private schools organized a rally of about 300 people in Harrisburg to push lawmakers to address the lag in funding.

Mr. Brattstrom said almost all of the Vanguard School’s funding is public, coming either from the 70 districts that place children with disabilities there or the state. He deemed it unacceptable that in 2004, his school has received only half of what it is owed by the state for the 2000-01 school year.

Without those funds, Mr. Brattstrom said, Vanguard has had to cease expansion of services, even though public school districts have a huge need for such schools. The 200-student school, located in a Philadelphia suburb, received 500 applications for 30 slots this school year, he noted.

Mr. Zahorchak said the current system for funding approved private schools must be overhauled or the state will constantly find itself in arrears.

Moreover, he said, the system is unfair to 260 of the state’s 501 districts. They aren’t able to use state subsidies for students with severe disabilities because those districts don’t have approved private schools nearby, and consequently, must pay 100 percent of the costs.

Also, he said, the current system offers no guidelines for how much it should cost to educate a specific special education student in an approved private school.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Special Education Webinar
Big Goals, Small Start: Building MTSS to Scale
MTSS is a powerful framework for supporting student success, but implementation can be challenging. Learn from districts about their MTSS success stories and challenges.
Content provided by Panorama Education
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Exploring Staff Shortage Impact on Education
Learn about the impact of staff shortages, changing roles of educators, and how technology supports teachers & students.
Content provided by Promethean
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Improving Outcomes on State Assessments with Data-Driven Strategies
State testing is around the corner! Join us as we discuss how teachers can use formative data to drive improved outcomes on state assessments.
Content provided by Instructure

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Special Education What the Research Says How Do You Sign 'Pi'? New Sign-Language Terms Could Boost Scientific Literacy
Scientists are developing a sign-language lexicon of scientific terms for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
3 min read
Second graders Drayden Ayers, left, and Breeanna Runde work with Megan Johannsen, a teacher of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Dubuque, Iowa on Sept. 25, 2015.
Second-graders Drayden Ayers, left, and Breeanna Runde work with Megan Johannsen, a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing with the Dubuque Community School District, at Carver Elementary School in Dubuque, Iowa on Sept. 25, 2015.
Jessica Reilly/Telegraph Herald via AP
Special Education Obituary Judy Heumann, a Powerful Advocate for Special Education and Disability Rights, Dies at 75
The renowned activist who helped secure legislation protecting the rights of disabled people, has died at age 75.
3 min read
Judy Heumann, center, is applauded during her swearing-in as U.S. Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Service by Judge Gail Bereola, left, in Berkeley, Calif., in June 1993. Standing at left is Berkeley Mayor Loni Hancock with sign language interpreter Joseph Quinn, and Julie Weissman, right. Heumann, a renowned disability rights activist who helped secure legislation protecting the rights of disabled people, has died at age 75.
Judy Heumann, center, is applauded during her swearing-in as U.S. Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Service by Judge Gail Bereola, left, in Berkeley, Calif., in June 1993. Standing at left is Berkeley Mayor Loni Hancock with sign language interpreter Joseph Quinn, and Julie Weissman, right. Heumann, a renowned disability rights activist who helped secure legislation protecting the rights of disabled people, has died at age 75.
Susan Ragan/AP
Special Education Some ADHD Medications Are in Short Supply. Schools Are Feeling the Fallout
A nationwide shortage of Adderall or its generic version has families and school nurses scrambling.
4 min read
Illustration of 3 adderall pills
DigitalVision Vectors
Special Education Universal Screening for Dyslexia Isn't Enough
A growing number of states are requiring schools to screen students for dyslexia, but advocates say that's just the first step.
7 min read
Scrambled letter tiles on a blue background
iStock/Getty