Circuit Breaker and Student Opportunity Act

If you haven't watched our Circuit Breaker Special Education reimbursement video yet, you can find it here. A very basic understanding is assumed in the following explanation of what the Student Opportunity Act (SOA) is changing for Circuit Breaker.

1) The Circuit Breaker reimbursement is calculated above a "floor" or threshold amount. Currently the floor is calculated at 4x the state average foundation budget, and that foundation budget is the piece of state funding where the biggest part of the funding is going. As the foundation budget rises, the Circuit Breaker floor rises, and Circuit Breaker reimbursement to districts drops. The SOA changes the method of calculating the floor, setting the FY20 floor at $45,792 and adjusting annually there after by the foundation inflation rate. To try to illustrate the effect, this model shows what the floor would look like if the SOA method had been implemented 5 years ago. The reimbursements are based on an example student with $100K claim and 75% reimbursement rates annually.

Current Method Floor Current Method Reimbursement SOA Floor SOA Reimbursement

FY16 $41,944 $43,542 $41,944 $43,542

FY17 $42,840 $42,870 $41,022 $44,234

FY18 $43,094 $42,680 $41,477 $43,892

FY19 $44,106 $41,921 $42,571 $43,072

FY20 $45,792 $40,656 $44,167 $41,875

2) The SOA would allow transportation costs to be included in a Circuit Breaker claim, in addition to instructional costs. This would phase in over a 4 year period at 25% per year. For instance, if the $100,000 student claim above has $20,000 in transportation costs, the claim amount $105,000 in FY21, $110,000 in FY22, $115,000 in FY23, and $120,000 in FY24. If sufficient funds were appropriated to meet the 75% reimbursement rate target, the transportation costs for this example student would be an additional $15,000 in the final year over the current method.

Note that not all of a district's Special Education transportation costs would be reimbursed. even in the final year of the phase in. Some claims will still fall short of reaching the threshold/floor (i.e. a student with $32,000 in instructional costs and $8,000 in transportation costs would not exceed the current $45,792 floor) and the amounts above the floor are only partially reimbursed, with the final amount dependent on the reimbursement set by the state in the annual budget.