WSR 15-18-077 PERMANENT RULES SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION [Filed August 28, 2015, 1:57 p.m., effective September 28, 2015] Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.
Purpose: Amendments to the state special education regulations are consistent with United State[s] Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs regulations adopted in 2015 and clarify the eligibility standard for IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) funding and standards for maintenance of effort.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 392-172A-06015, 392-172A-06025, and 392-172A-06030.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 28A.150.290.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 15-15-106 on July 16, 2015.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 3, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: August 28, 2015.
Randy Dorn
State Superintendent
of Public Instruction
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 07-14-078, filed 6/29/07, effective 7/30/07)
WAC 392-172A-06015 Maintenance of effort.
(1)(a) Eligibility standard. For purposes of establishing the school district's eligibility for an award for a fiscal year, the OSPI must determine that the school district budgets, for the education of students eligible for special education, at least the same amount, from at least one of the following sources, as the school district spent for that purpose from the same source for the most recent fiscal year for which information is available:
(i) Local funds only;
(ii) The combination of state and local funds;
(iii) Local funds only on a per capita basis; or
(iv) The combination of state and local funds on a per capita basis.
(b) When determining the amount of funds that the school district must budget to meet the requirement in (a) of this subsection, the school district may take into consideration, to the extent the information is available, the exceptions and adjustment provided in WAC 392-172A-06020 and 392-172A-06025 that the school district:
(i) Took in the intervening year or years between the most recent fiscal year for which information is available and the fiscal year for which the school district is budgeting; and
(ii) Reasonably expects to take in the fiscal year for which the school district is budgeting.
(c) Expenditures made from funds provided by the federal government for which the OSPI is required to account to the federal government or for which the school district is required to account to the federal government directly or through the OSPI may not be considered in determining whether a school district meets the standard in (a) of this subsection.
(2)(a) Compliance standard. Except as provided under WAC 392-172A-06020 and 392-172A-06025, funds provided to school districts or other public agencies under Part B of the IDEA may not be used to reduce the level of expenditures for the education of students eligible for special education made by it from local funds below the level of those expenditures for the preceding fiscal year.
(((2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, the OSPI determines that a school district complies with this section for purposes of establishing the school district's eligibility for an award for a fiscal year if the district budgets, for the education of special education students, at least the same total or per capita amount from either of the following sources as the district spent for that purpose from the same source for the most recent prior year for which information is available:
(a))) (b) A school district meets this standard if it does not reduce the level of expenditures made by the school district for the education of students eligible for special education from at least one of the following sources below the level of those expenditures from the same source for the preceding year except as provided under WAC 392-172A-06020 and 392-172A-06025:
(i) Local funds only.
(((b))) (ii) The combination of state and local funds.
(((3) A district that relies on subsection (2)(a) of this section for any fiscal year must ensure that the amount of local funds it budgets for the education of students eligible for special education in that year is at least the same, either in total or per capita, as the amount it spent for that purpose in the most recent fiscal year for which information is available, if that year is, or is before, the first fiscal year beginning on or after July 1, 1997, or later, if the most recent fiscal year for which information is available and the standard in subsection (2)(a) of this section was used to establish its compliance with this section.
(4))) (iii) Local funds only on a per capita basis; or
(iv) The combination of state and local funds on a per capita basis.
(c) The OSPI may not consider any expenditures made from funds provided by the federal government for which the OSPI is required to account to the federal government or for which the school district is required to account to the federal government directly or through the OSPI in determining a school district's compliance with the requirement in subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section.
(3)(a) Subsequent years. If, in the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2013, or July 1, 2014, a school district fails to meet the requirements of 34 C.F.R. 300.203 in effect at that time, the level of expenditures required of the school district for the fiscal year subsequent to the year of the failure is the amount that would have been required in the absence of that failure, not the school district's reduced levels of expenditures.
(b) If, in any fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2015, a school district fails to meet the requirement of subsection (1)(a)(i) or (iii) of this section and the school district is relying on local funds only, or local funds only on a per capita basis, to meet the requirements of 34 C.F.R. 203 (a) and (b), the level of expenditures required of the school district for the fiscal year subsequent to the year of the failure is the amount that would have been required under subsection (1)(a)(i) or (iii) of this section in the absence of that failure, not the school district's reduced level of expenditures.
(c) If, in any fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2015, a school district fails to meet the requirement of subsection (1)(a)(ii) or (iv) of this section and the school district is relying on the combination of state and local funds or the combination of state and local funds on a per capita basis, to meet the requirements of 34 C.F.R. 203 (a) and (b), the level of expenditures required of the school district for the fiscal year subsequent to the year of the failure is the amount that would have been required under subsection (1)(a)(ii) or (iv) of this section in the absence of that failure, not the school district's reduced level of expenditures.
(4) If a school district fails to maintain its level of expenditures for the education of student's eligible for special education in accordance with subsection (1) of this section, OSPI is liable in a recovery action under 20 U.S.C. 1234a to return to the United States Department of Education, using nonfederal funds, an amount equal to the amount by which the school district failed to maintain its level of expenditures in accordance with this subsection (1) of this section in that fiscal year, or the amount of the school district's Part B subgrant, in that fiscal year, whichever is lower.
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 07-14-078, filed 6/29/07, effective 7/30/07)
WAC 392-172A-06025 Adjustment to local fiscal efforts in certain fiscal years.
(1) Notwithstanding WAC 392-172A-06010 and 392-172A-06015 (((1)(a) and (2) and 392-172A-06020(1),)) (2) and except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, for any fiscal year for which the allocation received by a school district exceeds the amount the school district received for the previous fiscal year, the school district may reduce the level of expenditures otherwise required by WAC 392-172A-06015(1) by not more than fifty percent of the amount of that excess.
(2) If a school district exercises the authority under subsection (1) of this section, the school district must use an amount of local funds equal to the reduction in expenditures under subsection (1) of this section to carry out activities that could be supported with funds under the ESEA regardless of whether the school district is using funds under the ESEA for those activities.
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, if OSPI determines that a school district is unable to establish and maintain programs of FAPE that meet the requirements of this chapter and Part B of the act, the OSPI must prohibit the school district from reducing the level of expenditures under subsection (1) of this section for that fiscal year.
(4) The amount of funds expended by a school district for early intervening services under WAC 392-172A-06085 shall count toward the maximum amount of expenditures that the school district may reduce under subsection (1) of this section.
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 13-20-034, filed 9/24/13, effective 10/25/13)
WAC 392-172A-06030 School wide programs under Title 1 of the ESEA.
(1) A school district may use funds received under Part B of the act for any fiscal year to carry out a school wide program under section 1114 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, except that the amount used in any school wide program may not exceed:
(a) The amount received by the school district under Part B for that fiscal year; divided by the number of students eligible for special education in the jurisdiction; multiplied by
(b) The number of students eligible for special education participating in the school wide program.
(2) The funds described in subsection (1) of this section may be used without regard to WAC 392-172A-06010 (1)(a).
(3) The funds described in subsection (1) of this section must be considered as federal Part B funds for purposes of ((calculating excess cost and supplanting WAC 392-172A-06010 (1)(b) and (c))) the calculations in WAC 392-172A-06015(2).
(4) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, all other requirements of Part B must be met, including ensuring that students eligible for special education in school wide program schools:
(a) Receive services in accordance with a properly developed IEP; and
(b) Are afforded all of the rights and services guaranteed to students eligible for special education under the IDEA.
|