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Judge warns This isn't a game of chicken, a federal court judge warned yesterday as he spoke from the bench with a message for the state Legislature: Fund court-mandated services for special needs students, or else.
lawmakers on Felix
services funding
The federal court could take
over the state's education system
if the money is held upBy Crystal Kua
Star-BulletinU.S. District Judge David Ezra also said any talk of holding up money for Felix consent decree budget requests could lead to the federal court taking over the state's education system. The court would then find the money to finance compliance of laws designed to see that special-needs children receive appropriate education and mental-health services.
"If they refuse to abide by the federal law, they are going to find themselves in great difficulty," Ezra said. "Does the Legislature want that?"
But legislative leaders -- worried about the mounting costs -- said they have been forced to carefully scrutinize Felix budget requests. They cited changing budget figures, concerns from school personnel about unchecked special education spending, a lack of federal funding and no data to show that what the state has implemented so far is working.
"My blood is starting to boil when I hear that the judge is kind of blaming the Legislature," Senate President Robert Bunda said.
House Speaker Calvin Say said the judge may have misinterpreted lawmakers' concerns. "For the Legislature, all we are concerned about is how resources are spent for the student. Is the student getting the services we're spending the money on," Say said.
A lawsuit filed for Jennifer Felix and other special-needs students alleged that the state violated federal law by not providing these students with a proper education. The state settled with the plaintiffs by entering into the 1994 consent decree and promising to meet court-mandated requirements.
Ezra found the state in contempt last year for not being in compliance by the June 30 deadline. The state now has until Dec. 30 to meet all requirements. "But it can't do that without funds."
Special-needs students for decades have received "underfunded, substandard care," Ezra said. The state could have slowly built and funded the infrastructure during the past 30 years to meet special-education needs but instead chose to spend the money elsewhere until it was sued, he said.
Now the state has to play catch up "to lift the shame" and build a system from scratch in a matter of a few years, financing it "on a balloon payment," Ezra said. "This is not a case where politics should play a role."
The Legislature's role is to oversee the spending of taxpayers' money, leaders said. For example, when the emergency appropriations request for Felix went to $88 million from $137 million, lawmakers became skeptical. "Was it inflated?" Say asked.
"I think our role is to ask the right questions about the budget," Bunda said. "We're asking the right questions and they're not giving us the right answers."
Bunda and Say said they have received emails and phone calls and have talked to people who question being told to "just spend the money" for special education while there's no such luxury for regular education spending.
Bunda also pointed blame at the federal government for failing to provide enough money to help with compliance.
The Legislature is looking to a task force it formed and the state auditor's office -- which received $500,000 to further monitor Felix issues -- to figure out options on Felix and the state budget.
"We'd like to look at all the solutions available to us," Bunda said. "It's not a game of chicken. It's doing what's right."
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