[SE-Dir] OSL&P: OSB Transition Students

[ALLRAN Laura]

TO:       All District and ESD Special Education Directors

The message below is being sent to you on behalf of:

Nancy Latini, PhD
Assistant Superintendent
Student Learning & Partnerships
______________________________________________
December 7, 2009

RE:  Transition of OSB Students

I wanted to follow up with you regarding House Bill 2834, the closure of the Oregon School for the Blind, and the transition of OSB students back to your districts.  Some questions have recently risen related to funding to pay for the educational services of these former OSB students.

House Bill 2834 created the "Blind and Visually Impaired Student Fund" and included a roughly three million dollar appropriation to cover educational costs for school districts that the State School Fund, High Cost Disability Fund, or federal funds would not cover for former OSB students.  It should be noted that the Fund is "supplemental" and not intended to "supplant" other funding sources; districts are expected to use their regularly appropriated funds before asking for additional reimbursements from the fund.

No school district should be faced with unfunded educational expenses, even if a student's educational plan requires a full-time aide or attendance at the Washington School for the Blind.   Once the school district IEP team decides upon the most appropriate placement, the district would use their state school fund money and go through the high cost disability fund process.

The legislative intent of HB 2834 was that if there are educational expenses that exceed what you receive from these sources, you would then seek and receive the difference out of the Blind and Visually Impaired Student Fund.  The bill needs a technical fix to clarify that any funds expended by the school district between their double weighting for special education and the $30,000 "bar" for high cost funds are covered.  We have spoken to the Chair of the House Education Committee, Representative Gelser, and she is aware of the need for the fix and we are working with her to pass legislation in February to make this technical change to correctly incorporate the legislative intent.

This fund is overseen by the Northwest Regional ESD, who was appointed by Superintendent Castillo to take the lead on such funding requests.  They also communicate with ODE about requests for reimbursement from the fund.  You can contact Joan Steiner at NWRESD (503-614-1275) or Eric Richards at ODE (503-986-5786) if you have further questions regarding this matter.

I hope that this communication eases your worry about funding.  There are sufficient funds to pay for the education costs of former OSB students which should assist with the planning process for these students and the IEP teams.

If you have any difficulty viewing this document, please contact Laura Allran at laura.allran at state.or.us<mailto:heidi.schulze at state.or.us> or 503-947-5674.

Messages to and from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law.
===========End of Message============



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