(Hartford, CT) – Two bills that would set rate caps on community-based nonprofit programs that provide special education services to Connecticut school children would devastate those programs, forcing many to cease or reduce operations, leaving students without access to the care and education they need and to which they are entitled under federal law, the head of the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance said today.
Gian Carl Casa, President & CEO of The Alliance, who will testify at a public hearing on the bill today in the Select Committee on Special Education, said while the intent of the measure is to cut the cost of schooling, it will fail.
“The Approved Private Special Education Programs (APSEP) serve more than 3,000 kids with highly individualized needs and significant behavioral challenges. If the state caps rates, the needs of those kids won’t change; they will continue to need the support of highly trained and dedicated staff. What will change is the number of students any program can take in,” Casa said. “That means the burden will be shifted to school districts, thereby raising local costs. And some kids will be forced into out of state programs.”
Casa noted that even with Governor Lamont’s recent proposal for increased special education funding, the school districts will not be able to serve all of the students in-district who need services.
The bills are S.B. 1561 An Act Concerning Resources for Special Education and H.B. 7277 An Act Concerning the Provision of Special Education in Connecticut.
The bills would require the Office of Policy and Management to design and implement a rate setting methodology for special education services offered by private nonprofit providers in Connecticut through APSEP programs.
Connecticut’s community nonprofits contract with the state to provide a wide range of human services including day and residential treatment for people with developmental disabilities, mental health and substance abuse treatment, domestic violence and homeless shelters and programs that help people leaving incarceration re-enter the community.
Nonprofits have been underfunded for more than a decade, and while the General Assembly has approved funding increases in recent years, their spending power remains 30 percent lower than it was in 2007.
Casa noted that the APSEP payment system is a model that should be replicated.
“The present system of payments for APSEP ensures that funds cover the actual cost of providing care and education,” Casa said. “When funds don’t cover costs, the result is less access to care for people who need it. Instead of setting rate caps, the state should instead apply the APSEP payment system to all nonprofit health and human services.”
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