SpringfieldNewsSun.com

The Springfield School District is being forced to change how it spends some of its special education funding because it violated a new federal law by suspending too many black students with special needs.

As a result, $20,000 worth of equipment for special needs children, such as viewing machines for the blind or hearing aids, won't be purchased this year, Treasurer Penny Rucker said.

The state has told the district to spend 15 percent of its special needs budget — about $365,000 — on measures to ensure disciplinary action isn't taken against a disproportionate number of minority special education students.

Most of the $365,000 would have been spent on salaries and benefits for six special education employees, Treasurer Penny Rucker said.

Rucker shifted some money from the district's general fund to cover the salaries and made some other budget adjustments, but the process meant about $20,000 less was available for special education equipment.

The district will now have to borrow the equipment from the Miami Valley Special Education Regional Resource Center.

Federal guidelines limit the number of special education children from different racial and ethnic groups who can be suspended. Data from the Ohio Department of Education show that the district suspended 17 black students in the 2004-05 school year. Lydia Pizner, special education director, said federal regulations limit the district to eight suspensions.

Pizner said the violation occurred at the high school level.

Pizner said the rule appears to have been enforced retroactively. Congress approved the new guidelines last summer as part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. But data from the 2004-05 school year was used to determine if the district violated the new rules, Pizner said.

The state is forcing the district to spend money in a way it hadn't planned, Pizner said. More than $5,000 will now be spent on professional development to educate teachers on appropriate methods of disciplining special needs students and training to help those students develop better social skills.

"It's more of a politically correct way, in their eyes, of disciplining us," Pizner said.

Records from the ODE show that 10 percent of Ohio's school districts and charter schools violated the new federal guidelines.

Pizner said she expects the district to be in full compliance with the guidelines when the state checks on its progress this summer.

Contact this reporter at 328-0367 or gcetnar@coxohio.com.