Santa Rosa public schools are ordered to create more disturbed Latinos, classified 1.4% of white students as emotionally disturbed but only .4% of Latino students, so town is ordered to remedy social equity in mental illness at cost of $350,000

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9/12/12, "Santa Rosa schools must fix special ed racial imbalance," Press Democrat, Kerry Benefield

"Santa Rosa City Schools has run afoul of California Department of Education regulations because of an imbalance in the racial and ethnic makeup of the students in a particular special education category.

Of the 5,244 white students in the district's general education middle and high school enrollment in 2010-11, 1.4 percent were classified as emotionally disturbed. In the same year, just .4 percent of Latino students — 16 out of 4,418 — were in the same category.

“The California Department of Education, after they did some extensive analysis of our data, found that Santa Rosa City Schools — high schools — has a significant disproportionality in the category of emotional disturbances,” said Mariam Galvarin, director of special education for the district.

The finding means Sonoma County's largest school district must now use 15 percent of its federal special education funds in 2012-13 — about $350,000 — to create a remedy for the lopsided ratios.

The money cannot be pulled from federally mandated special education program so will have be taken from the district's 2012-13 general fund, according to Superintendent Socorro Shiels.

“We are going to revisit everything,” she said of the general fund budget that has taken deep cuts that have shortened the school calendar, staffing and maintenance funds.

Officials said the district is in a unique position because eight separate feeder districts funnel elementary students into Santa Rosa City Schools' middle and high schools.

How the district would address the racial and ethnic imbalance of special education students before they reach high school was unclear at the school board's regular meeting Wednesday night.

Trustee Bill Carle argued the district should be given a chance to remedy the situation before before forced to spend $350,000.

“I have a lot of confidence in our capability to analyze this, figure out what the issue is and target it and not have to spend it,” he said. “This doesn't seem like the most reasonable way to deal with it.”

Shiels remained philosophical, saying that the money is not being taken away, but can be spent on some of the district's most vulnerable students.

“While the set-aside could not possibly come at a worse time, what is required is good for students,” she said.

While it was unclear how the numbers got out of whack, Shiels argued that fixing the issue is not a matter of simply redesignating a handful of students into a different category.

“We don't take the label of ‘special education' lightly; there are tests that qualify them,” Shiels said. “It's a very formal process to be labeled in special education, a very formal process. It's nothing we take lightly and it's not a one-teacher whim at all.”" via DemocratsAgainstAgenda21.com