We’ve reached the part of the session where bills go to the floor. Please contact your Representative in the House and urge them to increase the funding for SPED in HB 2007, the budget bill. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee voted to slash additional SPED funding from the $30 million that came out of a bipartisan vote in the K-12 Education Budget Committee. (Recall the Governor and State Board of Education have recommended around 5 years of $72 million annual increases to make up for the current shortfall, and the legislature funded the first $72 last year.) In the Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Kristey Williams, who has repeatedly opposed adequately funding SPED, actually eliminated the increase entirely, but the current K-12 EB Chair Jason Goetz submitted a new request for $10 million. The $10 million passed, but will still actually increase the SPED shortfall because of rising costs of mandated SPED services. As districts are forced to pay for SPED services out of their general funds, that hurts ALL students.

Contact your Representative today!