Albert Lea Schools have amassed a surplus of special education federal funds totaling more than $184,000, and though it sounds like a good problem to have, the district could be in danger of losing the money of it doesn’t find a way to spend it.

Wednesday, May 09, 2001

Albert Lea Schools have amassed a surplus of special education federal funds totaling more than $184,000, and though it sounds like a good problem to have, the district could be in danger of losing the money of it doesn’t find a way to spend it.

Federal money to District 241 has actually been steadily increasing, creating an interesting dilemma for Director of Special Services Keith Erickson. He has to find federally approved ways to spend old federal funds before receiving any new money – a task that can be difficult, given a shortage of special ed teachers.

&uot;It’s a funny thing about federal funding,&uot; he said. &uot;You have an entitlement, but you won’t get that new money until you have spent all of the old money. Then they put restrictions on how you can spend it or how much you can carry over.&uot;

Federal special education dollars are supposed to be used for program expansion, said Erickson, which in most cases means new teachers. But special ed teachers are very difficult to hire and keep because of high demand and intense competition from other districts.

&uot;I can really see it when I go to job fairs,&uot; said Erickson. Sixty-three California schools were represented at a recent North Dakota fair, and many offered generous pay and incentives – especially to special ed teachers.

At a recent Minnesota education job fair in the Twin Cities, Erickson sat next to recruiters from New Mexico, Georgia, California and other states. A recruiter from Laredo, Texas was offering $8,000 signing bonuses to be paid at the conclusion of a one-year contract, Erickson said.

One position Erickson would love to add is a speech/language clinician, but finding candidates isn’t easy, he said. Licensure for the position requires a masters degree in most states, including Minnesota. At the same Minnesota job fair, Erickson managed to get three resumes from speech/language clinicians out of thousands of education job seekers.

&uot;It’s a very stringent degree and licensure process, so there aren’t that many clinicians out there,&uot; Erickson said. &uot;We’ll try to hire somebody by June 1, but there aren’t any guarantees.&uot;

Erickson said the district currently employs six full-time clinicians, but the caseloads are too high. The average caseload in the district is almost 60 per clinician, about 20 cases more than recommended by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

&uot;Right now we can’t provide the most effective instruction throughout the district,&uot; Erickson said. &uot;We’ve been operating at this level for about seven years, but it has gotten difficult to manage.&uot;

In addition, Erickson proposed spending the unobligated funds on computer upgrades, and new assessment and communication tools.

The total cost of Erickson’s program proposals is more than $77,000, plus $57,000 for staffing. The rest of the surplus, $50,000, would be carried over as a reserve. The school board approved the proposal Monday.

Erickson said federal fund surpluses should be easy to spend because special education needs are becoming more intensive and complex every year. A new U.S. Senate proposal, passed earlier this year, would more than triple federal funding of special ed over the next six years, he said.

But despite the promise of new federal funds, the teacher shortage continues to be a problem, he said.

&uot;We can spend the money on programming, but it’s difficult to expand special ed programs without new special ed teachers,&uot; Erickson said. &uot;We’re trying to remain as competitive as possible, but it’s getting more difficult, and our needs are growing.&uot;