Since 2006 the number of school-aged children placed at the Fircrest Residential Habilitation Center (RHC) by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has grown from one child to over 20, with no end in sight to this trend.
The decision by state officials to return to the past policy of institutionalizing school-age children (currently 9-21 year olds) has significant financial and logistical impact on the Shoreline School District, its students, staff and community.
Under state law, it is the responsibility of the Shoreline School District to provide the educational services (teachers and curriculum) to all children placed at Fircrest, no matter what their home district. Although state law requires that DSHS/Fircrest provide the necessary classrooms and associated support services for the Fircrest residents, DSHS staff believe that all of the children, no matter what the disability or program need, should be served on Shoreline school campuses. To this end, DSHS recently sent a letter to all parents/ guardians of Fircrest children directing them to free, grant-funded legal advocacy. Unfortunately, student placement in our traditional school classrooms is not always appropriate and/or safe for our school communities.
There are serious financial implications for the District as well. The state does not fully reimburse Shoreline for the costs of the state institutional education program at Fircrest. Many of the funding mechanisms in place are labor-intensive, inadequate and often inaccessible. As a result, local levy dollars must be used to cover the costs of the program. Uncovered costs for the 2007-08 school year are approximately $200,000 (including legal fees) and the amount for 2008-09 is expected to be much higher. This creates an unfair burden on the citizens of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park by requiring that funds intended for local student programs be used instead to supplement the costs of the state’s program at Fircrest.
There is no doubt that the previous financial struggles of the District were at least partly due to the inadequate funding associated with the significant number of high needs children placed in Shoreline by DSHS at facilities such as Fodor Homes in Lake Forest Park. After the closure of Fodor, DSHS began the student placements at Fircrest.
Other Washington state institutional education programs include the School for the Blind and the School for the Deaf, located in Vancouver, Washington. These residential school placements for children with disabilities are operated and funded directly by the state and do not impact the local school district in which they are located. It is difficult to understand this difference and the inconsistency of this policy.
Shoreline has an exceptional reputation for meeting the educational needs of disabled children. Our staff is an incredibly committed and hard-working group of special education professionals. We regret drawing attention to the significant impact the Fircrest placements have on the District, but it simply must be done for the good of our entire educational community.
The District has worked very hard over the past two years to become fiscally solvent and will make every effort to remain so in the future. We should not have to reduce programs for our resident students, in order to accommodate the uncovered costs of a “state” institution that happens to be within our boundaries. It is past time for state officials to acknowledge and mitigate the impacts of Fircrest on the Shoreline Schools.
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