Monday night a crowd of worried teachers and parents converged on the APS administrative building in uptown Albuquerque. Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) Superintendent Winston Brooks had convened a special public forum to discuss the proposed APS response to a ruling that the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) violated federal law in 2011-2012 by reducing special education funding from 2009 levels. At the forum, attended by other superintendents and legislators (but notably no state employees), Brooks revealed his plan to ask Arnie Duncan to require the state to create a payment plan to reimburse all the school districts that have been meeting their obligations to special education students. (PDF of APS presentation)
The metaphorical milk has been spilled in more ways than one. On May 8, Judge O’Hair ruled that the PED’s argument had no merit, and the state would lose $34.12 million dollars in federal funding, an equivalent amount to the appropriation the state should have made in that year. This is only the beginning of the story; the state has continued to fund special education at the lower levels, despite repeated warnings about losing federal education subsidies. Indeed, the loss of subsidies is non-negotiable; the law is clear that no alternative is permitted.
Read more here: http://m.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/21/1300992/-Susana-Martinez-PED-May-Owe-Districts-Millions-for-Special-Education