DRCNH Home > News > 11-24-04 Article

Last year, the Legislature decided to save money by using federal mone, rather than state money to administer the tests. Gov. Craig Benson and the Executive Council later approved channeling $740,000 in federal special-education money to help cover the cost.

In response to a complaint from the Concord-based Disabilities Rights Center, the U.S. Department of Education wrote a letter to the state this week asserting that $441,000 of that money was meant for local special-education programs and therefore "not available to be used by the state for a state-level activity."

In the letter, Stephanie Smith Lee, the director of the Office of Special Education Programs, wrote that New Hampshire could use the remaining $299,000 to pay for the tests, but only if New Hampshire could show it spent no less on special education this year than it did last year.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Clegg said he was not concerned about the situation.

" Didn't we test some kids in special ed?"he said. "We never give (schools) enough money on anything. If our education budget was $2.5 billion, it still wouldn't be enough."
The assessment tests in math and language arts are required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires schools to improve pupil performance on standardized tests. Certain subgroups of pupils also must improve, including special education students.

This year, 66 New Hampshire schools are listed as "in need of improvement," in most cases because they failed to improve the performance of special education pupils.

Richard Cohen, executive director of the Disabilities Rights Center, said yesterday he warned state officials the fund diversion would be illegal.

"It is also particularly ironic, given how state officials continuously complain about the lack of federal reimbursement for special education," he said. "It also makes for bad educational policy, given how poorly students with disabilities are being educated, as reflected in their (test) scores."

After the Legislature's Joint Fiscal Committee and Gov. Craig Benson approved the diversion anyway, Cohen asked federal education officials for an opinion, which he got in a letter last Friday.

A separate letter asked the state Department of Education for an accounting of how the money was spent. The state has 30 days to respond.

Education Commissioner Nicholas Donohue said yesterday he had just seen the letters and had asked his staff to gather the information requested.

"They have not made a final determination as to whether that's okay or not," Donohue said, referring to the $441,000 at issue. "Will they approve that? I don't know. But we're going to give them all the information we can, and they're going to tell us what they think, and we'll move on from there."

Before last year, the state used the money for "a potpourri" of local literacy and teacher training projects, according to Virginia Irwin, director of the state Division of Instruction.

Cohen said the state may have a difficult time proving to the federal government that it has maintained its investment in special education. Last year, the Legislature changed the formula for distributing state aid to schools, removing a provision that gave districts extra money for special education students. Some of the $299,000, he added, may have come from cuts to the sensory impairment program, which helps teachers better serve students who are deaf, hard of hearing or blind.

Donohue said the issue of the change in the distribution formula had to be clarified in Washington. (New Hampshire has argued that the formula is a separate issue, and that the money given to districts shouldn't count as special education spending because it can be used for any purpose.) Donohue added that while he did not have exact figures, he did not believe the state had reduced overall spending on special education.

"We continue to spend more and more on special education every year," he said.

Cohen said he would continue pressing state education officials for answers.

"The money should be restored to the school districts and the sensory impairment program, if funds were taken out of that program," he said.