Montana shortchanges thousands of students with special needs, whether it’s gifted students, special education students with disabilities or students at risk of dropping out, lawmakers were told this week.
The state is “severely underfunding” education for high-ability kids, Julie Merritt, a parent with the Montana Association for Gifted and Talented Education, told the Legislature’s Education Interim Committee.
The $250,000 a year that the Legislature provides for roughly 4,800 gifted students is so low, Merritt said, that gifted education is virtually “unfunded.”
Students learning English have the lowest graduation rate of any group in the state — 63.6 percent — yet their schools get zero state dollars to meet their educational challenges.
About 3,000 Montana students are considered English learners, with the largest group being children whose first languages are Native American, followed by kids who speak German dialects in Hutterite communities and those who speak Spanish.
Some 45 percent of Montana students or 65,000 kids are considered “at risk” of dropping out — because of poverty, low family income or frequent moves. For their education, the federal government provides more than $47 million in Title I grants, while the state contributes just $5.4 million. The chances of graduating for a low-income student are about 7.5 out of 10, compared to 9 out of 10 for other kids, according to information posted on the committee’s website.
The Education Interim Committee met this week in Helena to begin a study requested by the 2017 Legislature in House Joint Resolution 1.
The study calls for investigating the funding of special education for students with disabilities and for the broader category of “special needs” students.
Rep. Kathy Kelker, a Billings Democrat and HJ1 sponsor, told fellow House members last year that the Legislature’s School Funding Interim Commission was concerned, especially about state funding for gifted and special education.
While schools’ costs have increased over the decades, Kelker said, state dollars haven’t kept up and in some cases haven’t increased since 1980.
HJ1 seeks to find out whether Montana’s programs for special needs students meet best practices, whether funding is adequate for actual costs, and whether other states are using better funding mechanisms. It also asks whether Montana’s funding system gives schools incentives to “over-identify” too many special-education students to get extra money.
The committee plans to look into other states’ funding methods, which often give extra “weight” or money to schools, based on their number of special needs students, said Pad McCracken, the committee’s research analyst.
About 12 percent of Montana students or 18,000 kids qualify for special education services because they have disabilities, from blindness to autism to Down syndrome. The broader term “special needs” covers special education plus “at risk” students, English learners and gifted students.
To help schools identify and help students at risk of dropping out, Eric Meredith, data analyst with the state Office of Public Instruction, has been working with school districts to develop the Early Warning System.
Based on data from Montana students who graduated or dropped out since 2007, Meredith created a formula that generates a number for each student — the percentage risk of dropping out. A hypothetical male high school student might have a 51 percent chance of dropping out, based on his attendance and absences, F and A grades, school credits, recent moves, behavior problems and suspensions. Individual student numbers are kept confidential by schools.
For gifted students, Merritt said the grants that the state offers to schools are so small — about $5,000 for small districts, $25,000 for larger districts — that “it leads many schools to conclude it’s just not worth it, so they don’t apply.”
Montana schools have identified 4,800 kids or 3.2 percent of students as gifted, but national research suggests roughly 6 percent of students are gifted, which would amount to 9,000 or nearly twice as many.
In 17 school districts, zero students are identified as gifted, said Julia Cruse, learning specialist with OPI. Gifted kids need additional challenges to reach their potential, she said.
“All students deserve an education that meets their needs,” Cruse said.
The interim committee is scheduled to work on the special needs funding issue through September and make recommendations to the 2019 Legislature.
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