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District Disputes Findings of Outside Special Education Report; Officials Say Rise in Students Comes From Flawed Data

Posted on: Sunday, 15 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By ALICE L. CHANG

Racine The special education population in Racine Unified has jumped by about 30%, or 800 students, since 2003, according to a recent report by Deloitte Consulting.

The company noted that special education is a main cost driver in the district and needs to be "examined" because of its cost and "what the costs may demonstrate, including failure to maximize the inclusion of (such) students . . . "

But a district administrator denied the increase in the special education population, saying Deloitte used faulty data in some of its analysis.

"Some of the Deloitte conclusions are based on inaccurate information and misinterpretation," said Renee Pfaller, director of special education.

She will provide Superintendent Thomas Hicks a data- based response to the Deloitte report this week.

Pfaller refused to comment further on the Deloitte findings, saying Hicks would respond after he reviews her data.

But Bob Ryan, a co-chairman of the Independent Commission on Education, a volunteer group of community leaders formed to investigate district efficiency, , disagreed that the consultant's report used incorrect data. The group raised donations for the Deloitte report.

"(Deloitte) based data on public information and interviews at central office. Deloitte did the work and had someone within their organization check it," Ryan said. "(The commission) wanted to be absolutely certain everything is right."

The report also found that an uneven pattern of identification of students who may need special education help.

The Deloitte study concludes that the number of Racine Unified students diagnosed with speech disabilities skyrocketed from 110 to 1,225 in less than three years.

Hard to explain

The report also notes that the number of students classified with significant developmental delays, traumatic brain injuries, autism or other health impairments jumped from zero in 2003 to 456 currently.

"It's hard to explain," school board member Armin Clobes said.

He said the district is committed to meeting special education needs, but "some significant issues need to be addressed.

Some things the report addressed would suggest we are not being efficient."

Linda Flashinski, director of communication and public information for Racine Unified, said Thursday:

"At the special board meeting on Monday, the superintendent will be responding to the commission's recommendations, and it will be clearer at that time the strategies we will be using for the various recommendations."

Other report findings on special education in the district indicate that:

-- The majority of growth is at the elementary school level, a new trend.

-- Subsidies that the district receives for special education students have grown 43% in five years, to $28.6 million.

-- Roughly 17% of Unified's 21,000 students are in special education, four percentage points higher than the state average but comparable to the Madison public school district. About 800 staff members work with the special education population in Racine Unified.

-- Special education students use $3.77 million in transportation funding, compared with $4.19 million for other students.

-- Principals spend much of their time working on special education issues, and teachers and staff say special education issues are among their greatest challenges.

-- Confusion exists within the district about the availability of services for special education students. There is concern because multiple databases are used to track information.

-- There is no access to a special education attorney.

Many school districts with a substantial special education population have attorneys with expertise in this issue on staff or on retainer.

Racine Unified special education leaders rely on personal interpretations of the law to determine approaches to programming.

-- Most district leaders involved with special education planning have limited exposure to the field and its innovations.

-- Centralized planning and vision is lacking and that means a disparity of services between schools could exist.

-- The district has failed to claim full Medicaid reimbursement for services.

A Journal Sentinel analysis last year found that the district could be missing out on millions of dollars of such reimbursement.

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Full text of both reports can be found at www.HelpingRacineSchools.org

Copyright 2006, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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