Education for Georgia's Foster Children

What Other States are Doing

 

Michigan -- State School Aide Act (HB 5516)

Sec. 24. (1) Allows for the allocation of appropriations "to the educating district . . .. an amount equal to 100% of the added cost each fiscal year for educating all pupils assigned by a court or the family independence agency to reside in or attend a juvenile detention facility or child caring institution licensed by the family independence agency and approved by the department to provide an on-grounds education program."

Sec. 24. (2) "A district . . . educating pupils described in this section at a residential child caring institution may operate, and receive funding under this section for, a department approved on-grounds educational program . . . .

Sec. 53a. (1) "Reimbursement shall be 100% of the total approved costs of operating special education programs and services approved by the department . . . .

Sec. 53a (2) "Only those costs that are clearly and directly attributable to educational programs for pupils described in subsection (1), and that would not have been incurred if the pupils were not being educated in a district or intermediate district, are reimbursable under this section."

Minnesota -- Statue 125A.80 -- Provides for a Uniform Billing System for the Education Costs of Out-of-Home Placed Students.

Sec. 47. (1) "allow for the proper and timely billing to districts by service providers" who provide the educational services for students who are placed out of home.

Sec. 47. (2) "allow districts to bill the state for certain types of special education and regular education services as provided by law."

Iowa -- Iowa Code 281, State Board of Education, Chapter 63.

The Department of Education, through 16 Area Education Agencies pays for educational expenses of all children living in an approved or licensed shelter care home or an approved juvenile detention home.

281--63.18(282) Expenditures. "Expenditures may include actual instructional expenditures, student support services expenditures, instructional staff support services expenditures, administrative support services, operations and maintenance of plant services, student transportation services, and interfund transfers. Supplies and equipment necessary to provide the educational program shall be equivalent to those provided to a comparable number of students by the district in which the juvenile home is located. Classroom space shall be adequate for the number and needs of children in the juvenile home instructional program."

Kentucky -- 158.135 -- Provides for "reimbursement for school services for state agency children in state institution or day treatment center or in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice." Districts are reimbursed through a contract with the Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency for Children.

(1) (a) State Agency children means:

  • 1. a. Those children of school age committed to or in custody of the Cabinet for Families and Children and placed, or financed by the cabinet, in a Cabinet for Families and Children operated or contracted institution, treatment center, facility, including those for therapeutic foster care . . . or

    b. Those children of school age placed or financed by the Cabinet for Families and Children in a private facility pursuant to child care agreements including those in therapeutic foster care . . .

    2. Those children of school age in home or community based services provided as an alternative to intermediate care facility services for the mentally retarded; and

    3. Those children committed to or in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice and placed in a department operated or contracted facility or program.

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    • LITIGATION

    Nebraska -- In a unanimous ruling by the Nebraska Supreme Court, the court found the state is responsible for the cost of educating state wards that attend schools at Father Flanagan's Boys Town's Omaha campus. The court found the state is obligated "to pay the cost of both regular and special education received by state wards placed in the Boys Town schools."

    New Hampshire -- Ashland School District vs. New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families. The court interpreted a state statute as requiring the school district to pay for special education expenses for a child temporarily placed in a youth center. The court stated that "the obligations imposed by the legislature on local school districts are not lifted merely because a court-ordered placement dictates that an educationally disabled child be taught for a period of time outside the public classroom." The court went on to further state that the reimbursable services did not include only those listed on the child's Individualized Education Plan.