Most of us know a person with special needs or know a family with a special needs child. Our public schools educate these children, regardless of the severity of their condition.

What you may not know is that our public schools start educating children with special needs at the age of three!

Tennessee universal school voucher bill clears two more legislative hurdles after contentious debate

Per the Tennessee Department of Education’s website, Early Childhood Special Education addresses individual needs within the context of developmentally appropriate early learning experiences including early literacy, math, play, and social areas.

Preschool special education is a state and federally mandated program for children ages three through five who are experiencing challenges in their learning and development and meet eligibility criteria for special education and related services.

Every school district provides special education services to young children. Over 13,000 children in Tennessee receive individualized special education services each year as a part of IDEA 619 Preschool.

This program also mandates that public schools educate typical peers at around a 1:1 ratio. For reference, a typical peer is a standard learning student.

The Germantown Municipal School District has eight Early Childhood Special Education classrooms, two at each elementary school. GMSD has around sixty special education pre-K students and sixty typical peers. Other districts have varying numbers of special education pre-K students and typical peers.

Funding critical part of Houston High makeover

To conduct this state and federally mandated program, it costs GMSD close to $800,000 per year. This cost covers teachers who are dually certified for special education and standard instruction, paraprofessionals, physical therapists, and assistants.

“You can imagine our disappointment when there is $140 million allocated in the budget by Governor Bill Lee for private school vouchers, but none for state and federally mandated Early Childhood Special Education.”

For FY 2024, GMSD received $21,074 from the federal government for Early Childhood Special Education. That number is not a misprint. GMSD was able to apply for a non-recurring grant from the Tennessee Department of Education and received around $150,000 for this year.

The only guaranteed funding comes from the federal government, so GMSD needed around $780,000 this year to make up the difference in what the federal government provides and what the program costs.

The Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) formula allocates money to districts using a combination of state, local, and federal dollars and a variety of components for students in grades K-12. You might be asking yourself, what about the state and federally mandated Early Childhood Special Education program?

Unfortunately, the TISA formula doesn’t account for those students and GMSD, along with every other district, must divert funds from the K-12 classroom to the Early Childhood Special Education program.

Tennessee private school voucher law hits new obstacle in court

In recent remarks in front of the House K-12 Subcommittee, Lakeland Superintendent Dr. Ted Horrell used the example of a backpack full of money to describe TISA funding. For a K-12 student, TISA figuratively gives them a backpack of money that follows the student and is used to educate them.

For our Early Childhood Special Education students, their backpack is empty, and we educate them regardless.

For this reason, we have joined our counterparts in the Lakeland School System and are advocating with members of the General Assembly’s House and Senate Education Committees to bring awareness of this pressing need.

There is a bill sponsored in the House by Education Administration Committee Chairman Mark White, HB2181/SB2213, that will fix the issue that districts face.

My fellow school board members, Superintendent Jason Manuel, and I met with eleven members of the House and Senate Education Committees in February to advocate for this bill.

On education, Gov. Lee has gotten everything he’s asked for

The meetings were cordial, with many being unaware of the requirements we have. The question we heard the most was “how much is the fiscal note?”

The fiscal note is the financial analysis performed by the Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee. For this bill, the fiscal note is around $100 million annually. That $100 million is the cost that districts across the state are diverting from K-12 classrooms to a state and federally mandated program that is virtually unfunded.

After asking about the fiscal note, the other thing we heard from some of the General Assembly members was that the budget was tight this year and there may not be money available.

You can imagine our disappointment when there is $140 million allocated in the budget by Governor Bill Lee for private school vouchers, but none for state and federally mandated Early Childhood Special Education. How can that possibly be?

I’m so proud of our Special Education staff. They pour their hearts into our students from age three all the way until they leave as Super Seniors. They do amazing work each day!

Tennessee Department of Education refuses to take stance on federal funds

The students, teachers, and families deserve this program to be fully funded. The Governor and General Assembly must find a way to get it done by prioritizing these students who need it the most.

You can advocate along with us by contacting your elected member of the General Assembly and urging them to fully fund our Early Childhood Special Education programs and support HB2181/SB2213.