Recommendations have emerged from the legislative committee charged with studying special education.
Last month, the Special Education Interim Legislative Committee concluded their in-depth look at special education without formal recommendations being acted upon or presented to the Legislature’s Executive Board members at their November meeting.
Recently, however, the final interim committee report to the Executive Board was updated to include notes from the committee on their findings:
- The information reviewed by the committee, and contained in this report, is a resource that can be used by the standing committees on education in both the House and the Senate for developing strategies and solutions for special education in South Dakota, and as a guide to evaluate proposed legislation brought before the committees. With the Executive Board’s concurrence, a summary of the committee’s work, including links to minutes, documents, and audio recordings, will be provided to education committee chairs, vice-chairs, and members;
- More comprehensive and specific data than was provided to the Special Education Interim Legislative Committee should be requested and obtained from the Department of Education and local school districts regarding actual, historical costs of providing special education services in South Dakota, as well as evidence and analysis of stated increasing costs in order to develop recommendations to address “increasing costs of services”.
Rep. Nancy Rasmussen, the Chair of the Special Education Interim Study, told Executive Board members in November “there’s just so many avenues of need” in special education. No pieces of legislation were proposed.
“I believe what’s been added in the final report shows the complexity of special education and the funding challenges local school districts face in this area of education,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said.
“What’s to come during legislative session remains to be seen.”
For updates on the upcoming legislative session, check the ASBSD Blog.