OSDE system still stalling, USDE says it's not a sufficient reason
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - Time is up for most Oklahoma school districts as the system used to track and document student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) continues to stall.
The United States Department of Education responded to News 4 after being told of the stall.
The system is EDPlan/WAVE, it transfers student information from one school or educator to another, mainly for Special Education.
Without that critical information, districts wouldn't know who to hire, what students they have, what needs those students have to have access to, how to treat each student, and more.
For some, the program rolled out but didn't transfer student information, for others, new students aren't located anywhere in their system.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) has used the system for some years and while there can be a stall at the beginning of the year, a state policy gives a deadline of 10 (school) days.
The deadline already passed for many Oklahoma districts.
Educators and parents have said that even the applications for students, who want to apply for Special Education services, are not being found.
Two weeks ago OSDE sent an alert to teachers that said the system stalled due to a technical update with WAVE. This week teachers told News 4 that they were told 5 p.m. Wednesday the issue would be fixed and the students would be updated. That didn't happen.
"We've got kiddos that are supposed to be receiving services from these specialists that have not started," said Erika Wright of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition. Wright talks to dozens of educators and parents every week surrounding education in the state.
"Those kids are now falling through the cracks and being pushed back to the back of the line," said Wright.
Teachers were instructed, and have been handwriting out each IEP. But the reports can be anywhere from 15 to 25 pages long and sometimes all of the details might not be accurate for new transfer students.
"Is there any way we, in these new policies, can give leeway to the ten days," asked a board member of OSDE's last meeting.
That was the only question asked by that board member and to the Director for Oklahoma Special Education, Sherri Coats. Also, it was the only question asked when the new handbook of policies was presented.
"No," replied Director Coats.
"It just all keeps on stacking up," said Representative Mark McBride (R-Norman).
McBride is already leading the charge in asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate the handling of federal funding at OSDE under Superintendent Ryan Walters.
"It's just another example of, here's a program that's supposed to be implemented and it's not," said Representative McBride.
The state has another deadline called Count the Child.
In special education, to apply and be granted federal funding for next year, the state has to use the WAVE system to count every child that has special needs this year. The deadline to send the count is October 1.
The state essentially sends itemized receipts at the end of the fiscal year and the federal government would match that with state funding.
Legislators and educators hope that the WAVE system and EDPlan will be fixed by then or many students won't be counted and the state will fork out more money than it receives while students won't get the services they need.
The U.S. Department of Education agrees. The department sent News 4 a statement that stated the reason given for students, teachers, and parents missing out on the essential information isn't a valid reason to delay.
Challenges caused by changes to administrative processes is not a sufficient reason to unduly delay providing special education and related services. Any delay in providing these services is harmful. Setting students with disabilities up for success means they must receive their IEP services, and their educators must have access to their IEPs as quickly as possible at the start of the school year. Failure to provide appropriate services, including those that were identified on the child’s IEP, could result in the need to provide compensatory services in the future. Thus, parents and educators who have concerns may choose to document the delays and talk to their district or state about potential methods for obtaining this information quickly.
U.S. Department of Education
USDE pointed to several exceptions that could be given for a delay but the ones that they listed, did not match up to the current cause of "an update issue."
News 4 reached out to OSDE several times over several weeks to see what the hold up truly is and when it will be fixed but never heard back.
News 4 also reached out to EDPlan two weeks ago to see what the cause could be but never heard back.