Gaming the Special Education Funding Formulas

Susana Martinez

KOB-TV - Governor Susana Martinez is calling out some school superintendents, saying there are signs that districts could be gaming the funding system. The states public education department tells Eyewitness News 4 that they are currently in the process of auditing the way schools are asking for funding. Sources tell KOB, some districts may be padding their funding by mis-labeling the type of students they teach. Under the schools funding formula, students that need special education or students who are learning English as a second language are worth more in unit values used to calculate how much funding districts will receive. Some of the ways school districts have been able to "game the system" in the past include classifying kids as English language learners because they have Hispanic last names or claiming kids have special needs when they don't. Governor Martinez said today they had found some anomalies when they discovered more units than were anticipated after the legislative session ended. "There are some huge red flags that are going up and we're going to scrub it - we're going to make sure its accurate to determine if in fact there's going to be that kind of a shortfall at all." Read full story here: News New Mexico

Gaming the Special Education Funding Formulas