Parents of special needs students in Frederick County are concerned the school system isn’t doing enough to support their children. School officials say parents are right, and point to state and federal funding models as the cause.
While schools in the US don’t diagnose students with special needs, Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) has systems to detect when students are falling behind. Schools screen students throughout the year, and if any unique needs appear, supplemental education can be provided.
If a student does not respond to intervention, parents are informed and the school may begin its screening process to identify the cause. The school will look to see if a particular disability is present, and if that warrants further support.
If a student has a disability, but doesn’t require special instruction, the school may create a 504 plan, which outlines the special accommodations a student needs to stay on track. Additionally, Individual Education Plans can be created if a student's disability would require additional educational assistance.
Advocates for early identification
Bella Migdal was in third grade when FCPS identified she had signs of dyslexia, a neurological condition which can make it difficult to read and write.
Migdal is now 16 and an advocate for testing earlier than the third grade. She says if FCPS had listened to the science, she may not have faced so many challenges. “My brother has dyslexia too,” Migdal explained. “There is a genetic connection that up to forty percent of siblings both could have dyslexia.”
According to the International Dyslexia Association, “It takes four times as long to intervene in fourth grade as it does in late kindergarten.” This is due to the way children’s minds develop as they grow older.
Marla Migdal, Bella’s Mother and a certified special needs tutor, is also an advocate for early testing. She says it took a lot of hard work to get her daughter the help she needed. “My husband and I -since kindergarten- were talking to the teachers, and they were just saying, ‘No, just give her time,’” Marla explained.
When Bella’s grades began to suffer, her parents sent her to private school for several years to catch up with her peers. There, Bella says she found a community she didn’t have before. “[Being] around kids like me, so I can make friends and not be ostracized as weird.” Bella said. “They didn’t just do it by grade, they did it at what level you were at.”
Maryland’s funding formula
Troy Keller, FCPS’s Director of Elementary Special Education, says the school system used to require students to be exposed to the curriculum for several years before identifying a special need.
As times have changed, Keller says the science shows that earlier identification is needed, but points to funding as an obstacle. “How can we invest in that early intervention model so that potentially a student [is] able to get their needs met through all of their academic career until they hit twenty one,” Keller asked.
FCPS’s ability to cater to its special needs students is limited by the state’s funding formula, Keller says. Maryland’s one-size-fits-all approach may not fit every student. “Here in the state of Maryland, we use what is called a single student weight system,” Keller explained. “It’s going to be the same amount of state funding for each student with a disability, regardless of the severity."
Other states cater to a student’s special needs, Keller says, using systems that give each the funding they need. “They’re actually looking at specific learning disabilities [like] deaf, hard of hearing, blind, autism,” Keller said. “And so based on those disability needs, they’ve given them weights.”
These weights allow other states to approach funding special education student by student and to spend their budget where it's needed most.
Federal deficit
Jamie Shopland is Chair of FCPS’s Special Education Citizens Advisory Committee, a joint body of parents and FCPS staff that advocate for special needs students. Shopland says the federal government is also causing the funding burden. “We’ve been talking about the lack of fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,” Shopland explained. “Senator Chris Van Hollen has introduced a bill to fully fund that.”
Since passing in 1975, Keller says the federal government has never met the IDEA’s goal of funding forty percent of state's special needs budgets. “The state of Maryland would be expected to receive four hundred million dollars more,” Keller explained. “Frederick County Public Schools would get twenty million dollars more.”
The government currently funds less than 13% instead of the promised 40%. Shopland says for Senator Van Hollen’s bill to change that, it may take everyone. “With the introduction of [Senator] Van Hollen’s bill to fully fund IDEA, we need to get that taken seriously,” Shopland said. “And the only way, as history has shown us, is if there is a huge turn out of support.”
The bill, reintroduced in March, is part of a decades-long effort to get the IDEA fully funded.
