AUGUSTA – Students with disabilities aren’t treated equitably or consistently throughout the state, according to a study committee whose findings are prompting further examination of how schools provide special education services.

Susan Gendron, commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, said Tuesday she is creating two new committees – one to evaluate and clarify the 13 federal definitions of disabilities now used to identify students who require special needs services in Maine, and another to create a standard “pre-referral” system to help students who are at risk of academic failure before they require more expensive special education services.

The impetus for the review were recommendations from the Working Committee on Special Education Issues, created by the State Board of Education in fall of 2001 to determine how special education should be funded through Essential Programs and Services. EPS, which goes into effect in 2005, aims to ensure that all students have the programs and services they need to meet the academic standards set by Maine’s Learning Results.

The committee hasn’t yet completed its work, according to co-chair Walter Harris. But members have come up with proposals about how special education could better serve students.

Harris, co-director of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Maine, told the state board last week that the percentage of students who receive services vary widely among school systems, including those which are similar in size and economic status.

Because of different interpretations of the federal guidelines, a student might be identified as having a disability in one school system but not in another, he said. That could result in resources being allocated to students who don’t need them or withheld from others who do.

While pre-referral systems exist in some schools, they vary in quality and are used unevenly, Harris said. But if they were used more broadly, some at-risk students could be given intervention services that might eliminate the need for their receiving more expensive special education services.

The idea is to bring together teachers and other instructional specialists to figure out what could be done within the general education program for a child who has a learning problem. They could assign extra tutoring, a behavioral management program, or the use of an educational technician who might help a child stay on task.

Cutting down on the number of students in special education makes sense because Maine ranks third nationwide in the number of students with disabilities, according to Harris. More than 17 percent of all children between the ages of 3 and 21 in the state receive special education services, based on 2002 figures from the state Department of Education.

“These recommendations will bring more consistency to the identification of students who need special education and reduce the inequities in the way we provide special education services,” he said.

Harris said his group also is exploring the idea of having the state reimburse districts for special education costs based on general enrollment, called a “census model.”

The committee also has suggested that the board conduct a study to see whether special education services could be delivered on a regional basis.

During last week’s state board meeting, Bangor Superintendent Robert Ervin praised the idea of reviewing the way special education is provided. School systems are “working with definitions they’re not sure of,” he said.

But he and other superintendents did have concerns about the idea of funding special education using a census model. Communities that are service centers or that house treatment programs would be penalized.

Paradoxically, even as Maine schools provide special education programs for an increasing number of students, total enrollment is decreasing, according to an interim report issued by the committee last summer. Between 1999 and 2002, general enrollment fell 3 percent while special education enrollment rose 28 percent, the report said.

Because of the increase in the number of students with special needs, the special education share of the budget has risen from 11.7 percent in 1992 to 14.7 percent in 2002, the report determined. Between 1992 and 2002, the cost of special education increased more than 87.4 percent, compared to the cost of general education which rose by 55.8 percent.

Criticizing the idea of census models, William Braun, superintendent in SAD 48 (Newport area), said the numbers of students identified with special needs depends on local conditions such as economic status and whether there are treatment programs in the area.

“There’s no way to blanket that percentage number because there are too many individual impacts on each district depending upon where it’s located,” he said after the meeting.

If the reimbursement percentage were set at 15 percent, for example, “I’m going to lose my shirt,” said Braun, whose district has 18 percent of students receiving special education programs.

“And I don’t feel I’m overidentifying,” said Braun, whose school system uses what’s called a Student Assistance Team – the “pre-referral” process that the Working Committee on Special Education Issues says should be explored for statewide use.

“There are times when numbers don’t tell the whole story,” said Brewer Superintendent Betsy Webb who pointed out that her system has a higher percentage of students with special needs since area communities tuition those students to the high school.

“We consider it an honor and a privilege to educate those children, and we’re very successful at that,” she said. “But our numbers are skewed.”

Gendron said she hopes the two new committees can report back in March with recommendations.