[ OUR OPINION ]
FEDERAL judge David Ezra has loosened the yoke that has held the state on course as it plowed toward providing adequate education for children with special needs. The state's task now is to maintain the programs so they run smoothly to assure that the children who have physical and learning disabilities will get a satisfactory education. At the same time, Hawaii's congressional delegation should work harder to increase federal funding for the program, which the government has mandated. State must show it
can maintain special ed
THE ISSUE The federal court finds that the state has made significant progress in delivering special-education services.
The cost for special education has risen significantly since 1994 when the state signed the Felix consent decree, the result of a lawsuit filed by the parents of Jennifer Felix, a Maui student, and other families with special-needs children. In 1994, the state spent about $115 million a year on special education. Spending now tops out at $340 million annually.
When Congress passed the 1975 legislation that required public schools to deliver education for handicapped students, it promised to pay 40 percent of the bill. However, the federal government has never come close to paying its share. In Hawaii, the most it has come up with is 12 percent. Nationwide, federal funding for special education has averaged about 13 percent of costs. With the state struggling to meet education needs for all of its students and to comply with the new No Child Left Behind Act, money for schools is spread thin. It is time for Congress and the administration put up more money for the programs.
Ezra's finding that the state is in "substantial compliance" with the decree is encouraging. But the judge remains concerned that an "entrenched bureaucracy" in the departments of education and health, which is charged with Felix compliance, will not sustain special-education levels. As a result, he declined to remove the state from court oversight for another 18 months.
State officials should use the time to qualify the last three school complexes that have yet to reach compliance and set down a plan to satisfy the court that they will be able to maintain the programs.
Ezra's remarks about the Legislature's lack of commitment to fund special education adequately probably irked lawmakers who have been investigating spending on Felix services. In this instance, the judge is mistaken. The Legislature's responsibility is to assure taxpayer money is being spent properly, and the investigation should go ahead. As far as providing adequate budgets, lawmakers and state officials cannot help but be aware that close to 10 years of court supervision -- of a federal judge looking over their shoulders -- is undesirable for any undertaking.
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