Lawmakers unveil plan to fix special education costs

Democrats on a new Select Committee on Special Education unveiled a plan Monday meant to help local school districts keep costs down.

The identical proposals come as municipalities say special education costs are driving up budgets.

“We are at a crisis point,” Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox (D-Trumbull) said. “We are at a point where special education in Connecticut is not sustainable.”

Gadkar-Wilcox and Rep. Maryam Khan (D-Windsor), co-chairs of the committee, said the bill was aimed at helping school districts with costly outplacements.

The proposal would include financial aid to help school districts add or expand special education programming within their schools.

It would also offer $50 million from the Special Transportation Fund to help with the cost to transport students when districts do have to place them in another program.

Additionally, it would task the Office of Policy and Management with creating a fee schedule that limits how much nonprofit service providers could charge for those programs.

“If we weren’t paying so much in tuition costs, we would have the funds to educate our children in our schools with our teachers,” Hartford school board member Shontá Browdy said.

Nonprofit providers insist they’re doing what they can to keep costs down. They warned during public hearing that any fee schedule that underfunds programs could result in closures.

“Needs are what they are and just because somebody says something costs X doesn’t mean it costs X,” The Alliance President and CEO Gian-Carl Casa said.

Republicans said they support portions of the proposal, including letting the state negotiate payments with the nonprofits.

They said a study on cost drivers doesn’t go far enough, though, because they also want state agencies to assess whether local school districts are doing enough to help special education students.

“We need to make sure that the state Department of Ed and our own Connecticut system, which does a great job, but is also held to the same level of accountability,” Rep. Tina Courpas (R-Greenwich) said.

She also said the bill would add to an already bloated bureaucracy.

Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Connecticut) noted he signed off on a bill that provided $40 million in additional special education grants for the current year. His budget proposal also seeks to increase local aid next year.

Still, he said the primary focus should be on bringing costs down.

“It's not just about more money,” he said. “Also we’re doing more to keep these kids in district where they can get better taken care of at less cost to the community."