Two years after a state report raised a host of organizational and systemic issues with the delivery of special-education services at Hawaii public schools, the Department of Education says it has a blueprint to revamp the program that serves 19,700 students with disabilities.
"This is a heavy lift for our department and will require some thinking outside the box that we may not be used to," DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe told the Board of Education’s Student Achievement Committee on Tuesday. "Changing our mindset around how we’ve done things in the past to how we need to do them to make sure that we get the services to kids in a more effective way is absolutely something that we’re enthusiastic about."
The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that all special-needs children be given a free, appropriate public education. The department is responsible for providing educational services for special-needs students ages 3 to 20. Those services take up 20 percent of the department’s budget, with spending this year at nearly $362 million.
Following an in-depth assessment of the DOE’s special-education services in 2011, a new report by nonprofit education research firm WestEd recommends the department redesign three parts of its special-education program:
» Organization and infrastructure: Improvements to the overall system and structure of the department.
» Allocation of resources: Alignment of resources to ensure system effectiveness and accountability for results.
» Service provision and student performance outcomes: Build capacity to meet legal requirements and move to a focus on instruction and student performance.
The DOE still needs to come up recommended policies, processes and tools to implement the redesign over the next two school years. Nozoe said the overhaul aligns with the department’s updated strategic plan, which involves ensuring that students are college- and career-ready.
The changes are expected to lead to efficiencies, such as giving school principals and district superintendents more control over funding for special education.
Nozoe said the redesign will involve "really re-looking at the way we distribute and allocate funds out to the districts and the schools, both by (special-education) positions and also dollars, and making sure that we find the best way to allocate those dollars, basically by student need."
Another change could be the creation of "regionalized" resources for special-needs students.
Nozoe said the redesign will look at how to "concentrate resources in a way that we can get a bigger bang for our buck in areas where there are higher concentrations of need."
Board of Education member Jim Williams asked whether that would involve moving students to different schools based on their needs. Nozoe said it could, citing as an example the DOE’s existing Centers of Educational Excellence in autism/developmental disabilities at a handful of public schools.
BOE Chairman Don Horner said the idea of regionalizing services is likely to be controversial with parents of special-needs children, but said that trying to have all 260 public schools specialized and "up to speed" is a challenge.
BOE member Brian De Lima said it will be critical to involve parents and stakeholders as the DOE works to implement the redesign.
He also suggested hiring a project manager "to see this through to a conclusion." Nozoe noted that the DOE has been in talks with a nonprofit about possible grant funding for the position.
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On the Net:
>> For an overview of the redesign plan, see tinyurl.com/d8t7urt
