The Manhattan Beach Unified School District has joined two other agencies in filing a lawsuit against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger aimed at maintaining mental health services for more than 20,000 students statewide, 24 of whom are in the district.
On Oct. 8, the governor used his line item veto power to cut $133 million from the 2010-11 state budget in reimbursements to counties that provide state-mandated mental health services to special education students.
The cut suspends a mandate in Assembly Bill 3632 that county facilities provide such services, and shifts the responsibility to school districts, which will receive no additional funding to fill in the gap.
The move could cost MBUSD — which passed its budget in June — up to $1 million annually.
“It’s not in our budget so this is especially difficult in the middle of the year,” said MBUSD Executive Director of Student Services Ellyn Schneider. “I’m so concerned about this potential loss of funding and what it would do to these kids. Something like this can be devastating for students that absolutely need these services.”
Six days after the state passed its 100-day late budget last month, MBUSD received a memo from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) stating that it could no longer continue treating the district’s special needs students or accept new ones.
On Nov. 9, MBUSD, along with the California School Boards Association (CSBA) and the Los Angeles County Unified School District, filed the lawsuit, arguing that the suspension of the mandate is not within the governor’s authority and would instead require a two thirds legislative vote, under Proposition 1A.
“We got involved when it became clear to us that the county was going to cease giving services to our students,” Matthews said. “Many parents have said ‘Thank you for standing up for our kids.’”
“The governor’s decision to use his veto authority to deny millions of dollars in child mental health services is appalling,” said CSBA President Frank Pugh. “Cuts to our schools and students have reached an all-time high. Students already face larger class sizes, fewer counselors and less support staff on campus. It is unthinkable to now eliminate the very services that provide assistance to students struggling with mental health issues.”
Federal law requires schools to provide free and appropriate public education to special needs students and severely emotionally disturbed students up to the age of 22.
MBUSD spends roughly $12 million of its $50 million budget on special education programs, most of which goes toward programs on campus.
Since the passage of AB 3632 in 1984, county facilities have been required to provide mental health services for students whose needs are beyond the scope of school counseling services and require outpatient or inpatient treatments.
Of the district’s 719 special education students, six are enrolled in outpatient programs and 18 are treated in out-of-state residential treatment centers to which they were referred by DMH.
MBUSD spent $160,000 last year to fund these students’ basic education, transportation to and from treatment facilities and up to four trips per year for parents to visit students in residential programs, including airfare and hotel accommodations.
DMH funds therapeutic costs and — in the case of residential placements — room and board, which totals $800,000 to $1 million annually for the district’s students.
The suspension of the AB3632 mandate transfers those costs to the district, which over the last four years has already had its budget cut by $5.3 million. If the funds are not reinstated, the district will pick up the tab most likely at the expense of other programs next year, according to Matthews.
“In June, we figured out the state would be $6 million short on our budget so it didn’t surprise us when that happened,” he said. “But this situation is new. We would have to sit down and seriously think about how we would handle this.”
The $133 million in cuts was part of $963 million in blue-penciled items from the state budget that have since been shifted to the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties, according to deputy director of the state’s Department of Finance, H.D. Palmer.
“The reason for this veto — and any others — wasn’t related to how the program was being administered or to its value,” Palmer said. “When the budget came to the governor, the fund for economic uncertainties was only at $375 million. This was done to build the budget reserve back up.”
Palmer said that the line item cuts increased the so-called rainy day fund back to the roughly $1.3 billion level called for in the governor’s May budget revision.
“I think the authority of the governor [to make the cut] is clear and has been recently upheld and affirmed by the Supreme Court in recent months,” Palmer said.
Last week, roughly $14 million in cuts were restored to L.A. County mental health facilities, according to Schneider, who projects the funds will allow services to continue through December. As a result, DMH will continue servicing special needs students currently in programs.
“It’s minimal,” Schneider said. “We realize that L.A. Unified is huge so we’re not sure how much of that we’ll get back. As soon as that runs out, they will be stopping again. But the for the short term , we’re back to having meetings [to place students].”
On Oct. 22, four public interest advocacy organizations, including Mental Health Advocacy Services, also filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the governor to have the mandate’s suspension reversed.
The district’s lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles County Court of Appeal, which will decide whether to take the case. The district anticipates no cost associated with the suit, according to a statement.
“As you can imagine, filing a lawsuit is a very serious action, and one that the district does not take lightly,” Matthews said. “…We cannot face this challenge with silence.”
“We are obliged legally and morally to talk care of these children and we will,” he said. ER
