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Special Education Need Exceeds Funding · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: West Virginia has a school finance problem, and it's deeper
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: than many first understood. A state Department of Education analysis
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: shows the cost of serving special education students exceeded available
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: funding by two hundred twenty four million dollars in fiscal
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: year twenty twenty five. Late Wednesday into early Thursday, lawmakers
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: got an unmistakable message. All fifty five county superintendents sent
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: their legislators a simple one page document, just four bullet points,
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  Speaker 1: how many special education students they serve, how much revenue
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: they receive, what they spend, and the bottom line. That
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: last number was bolded in red, and in almost every
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: county it was negative. Some deficits were a few million dollars,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: others were far larger. Berkeley County posted the biggest shortfall,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: more than thirty eight million dollars in a single year. Statewide,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: West Virginia serves just under fifty thousand special education students
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: has classified under federal law, and only five of the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: fifty five counties reported breaking even or better. So how
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: do counties make it work? Well? A few dip into
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: healthy reserve balances, but that drain's savings meant for emergencies
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and capital needs and rebuilding those reserves looks unlikely. Most
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: counties don't have that option. Many lack excess levies and
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: instead shift money from other classrooms, other programs, other students
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to stay federally compliant. That becomes a zero sum game,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: taking from one student to serve another, because failing compliance
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: risks losing federal dollars. Altogether, everyone agrees the school aid
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: formula is outdated. Efficiencies may help at the margins, but
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: they won't erase a gap this large. This isn't about
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: school choice versus public education. It's about doing both well.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Many lawmakers said they were surprised by the numbers. That
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: surprise should lead to action. The problem is clear, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: it's time to fix the formula and close the special
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: education funding gap. All children deserve our best efforts. Some
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: simply need more support, and West Virginia has an obligation
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: to provide it.