Special-ed money disputed
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state departments of Health and Education said yesterday that despite recent increases, the Legislature has left them about $30 million a year short of meeting Hawai'i's obligations to nearly 12,000 special education students who require mental health services.
Advertiser library photo
But Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Taniguchi said yesterday the increases the Legislature made last week should be enough and can be increased in a special legislative session if needed.
State Health Director Bruce Anderson said health issues need an additional $10 million.
"Part of the reasoning at the Legislature was to get out of the turmoil of the general session and take a good look at special education in a special session if necessary," said Taniguchi, D-Manoa-Mo'ili'ili-McCully-Pawa'a.
State Health Director Bruce Anderson said a special session "would be a wonderful educational opportunity for everybody."
But Anderson said a special session should be before May 20, when the state must show Federal Judge David Ezra that it has a plan to meet the children's needs.
Ezra has given the Legislature and Gov. Ben Cayetano's administration until June to come up with the money needed to improve special education plans or face fines and a federal takeover of the program.
The Legislature last week approved a $43 million-a-year increase in the program's funding for the Department of Education, and $8 million more for the Department of Health.
"We felt we addressed the needs of the program in an adequate way," Taniguchi said. "We made a sincere effort to look at what the departments were asking for, and we felt they came up a little short" in answers to questions about the spending, he said.
"They haven't been able to spend the amounts they sought earlier, and haven't been able to justify what they are seeking now," Taniguchi said.
He said some results of an investigation by a special joint subcommittee of the House and Senate may be available to help legislators understand program spending needs and the ways money can be saved.
The state is striving to meet a December deadline to show improved services required by the so-called Felix consent decree. Ezra issued the decree in 1994 after finding the state's treatment of special-needs children inadequate.
The decree arose from a lawsuit filed in federal court against then-Gov. John Waihee and the state by some parents of disabled children in Hawai'i, including a girl named Jennifer Felix.
The lawsuit said that the state violated federal law by not providing adequate mental health, education and other services to an estimated 3,300 to 6,600 Hawai'i children who need some mental health services. Anderson said the number of such children being served under the Felix decree is in excess of 11,000 today.
To settle the suit, the state agreed to the creation of a comprehensive system of care over six years.
This legislative session, the departments of Education and Health asked for increases of about $64 million and $18 million a year, respectively, over the two-year budget period, to meet that deadline.
Anderson said yesterday that the Legislature appropriated about $8 million in additional money for the program in his department, but still left the department $10 million short. The shortfall included $8 million for direct services, $1 million for 33 care coordinator positions and $1 million for an information management system and administrative support, Anderson said.
Senate cuts aimed at "multisystemic therapy," in which children can be treated in their own homes at $8,000 a year, will backfire, Anderson said. Those children now will have to be in far more costly institutional settings at places such as the Queen's Medical Center or Kahi Mohala where the average six-month treatment program costs $100,000 per child, he said.
Anderson said he wanted to get his concerns on the record before the Legislature adjourns this week. He said his office must submit documents to Ezra by May 20 demonstrating state compliance.
"Judge Ezra has been very patient with the state, and he will not tolerate any uncertainty with regard to funding Felix for the coming year," he said.
State schools chief Paul LeMahieu has also expressed concerns about a shortfall in special education funds in his department.
LeMahieu could not be reached yesterday, but Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen said the Legislature is financing $43 million of the pared-down average of $64 million a year increase that the department was seeking for each of two years in the budget.
"It is understandable with the increase in costs that they may have questions," Knudsen said. "Certainly the Legislature is responsible for determining that the money is going to be well spent."
