44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

REQUESTING THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION TO STUDY STAFFING PATTERNS FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION RELATED SERVICES.

WHEREAS, effective with the 1996-97 school year, funding for special education related services was expanded to include diagnostic services, and the number of units per full-time equivalent was increased from twenty to twenty-five units; and

WHEREAS, the state department of public education reported that full-time equivalents for related services personnel have increased dramatically since the program was expanded to include diagnostic services and since the number of units per full-time equivalent was increased; and

WHEREAS, the state board of education entered into a contract with an independent consultant to study the funding for special education related services personnel; and

WHEREAS, the independent consultant identified staffing patterns and rapidly increasing costs for related services personnel in the report Problems and Concerns with Aspects of the New Mexico Public School Funding Formula dated November 5, 1999; and

WHEREAS, the independent consultant reported that the total number of units for special education related services personnel increased from twenty-two thousand four hundred eighty-one in 1996-97 to forty-two thousand six hundred fifty in 1999-2000, for an increase of over twenty thousand units; and

WHEREAS, the independent consultant did not find guidelines or rules that the state department of public education should use in granting approval to school districts for existing or additional full-time equivalent related services personnel; and

WHEREAS, the independent consultant recommended that a comprehensive examination be undertaken to study the funding needs of related services to gather information that will explain the reasons for the ranges among districts in staffing ratios for related services;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state department of public education be requested to perform a comprehensive study to gather information on the conditions contributing to the wide ranges in staffing ratios for related services, to develop criteria for approval of current and additional special education related services personnel and to provide information that will assist in the development of a fair and equitable funding methodology for these services; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the findings and recommendations of this study be provided to the legislative education study committee by November 1, 2000; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be distributed to the superintendent of public instruction and the director of the legislative education study committee for appropriate distribution.