Clock is Ticking on State Special Education Funding

Funding for county mental health services to the Glendora Unified School District’s special needs students will continue to be paid by the state, but only for a short period of time.

A Memorandum of Understanding was approved by the GUSD school board at the Sept. 12 meeting, allowing the L.A. County Department of Mental Health to continue providing pre-existing services for 2011-2012 only.

In June, Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 114 into law, forcing school districts to become solely responsible for the funding of their special needs students.

The one-time funding was meant to help districts during the transitional period between now and when the districts must either pay entirely out of pocket to contract county services or provide these services themselves.

$133 million in funding under AB 3632, the original mandate, was vetoed by then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Oct. 2010.

Counties across the state will receive funding under AB 100, a law which shifts money from the Mental Health Services Fund to be used for special education students. L.A. County’s DMH has only $33.1 million allocated by California, but that funding will likely run out by Dec. 31, 2011.

Glendora Unified has been working with its Special Education Local Area Plan division to address the approaching change.

“We have been working on creating a program and what the model will look like to address the mental health needs,” said Ann Keyes, director of student services.

They are working to determine on what needs they may have to provide, such as a clinical psychologist, therapist and/or counseling services, for example.

L.A. County’s DMH provides outside counseling, therapy, family counseling, psychiatric services and medication, if needed.

GUSD does provide some mental health services to its students, but beyond intensive counseling, the county would provide help, according to Keyes.

Last year, the district spent almost $152,000 on mental health services provided by the County and is still working on finding out if and how much money Glendora Unified will be reimbursed, according to Marc Chaldu, assistant superintendent of business services.

Central to Gov. Brown’s argument was that there was previously no accountability with the old system and with the districts behind the driver’s seat there will be “greater cost containment and ... a stronger connection between the services provided and the student’s educational outcomes,” according to Gov. Brown’s revised budget summary.

With or without state or federal funding, the school district must provide a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.

“This district will continue to meet the needs of the students and honor those student’s IEPs,” Keyes said.