Superintendent's Message

February 2012

Dear Shoreline Schools Community,

Dear Shoreline Schools Community:
One of the critical issues that the Legislature needs to deal with immediately is the overwhelming impact of the Fircrest Residential Habilitation Center (RHC) on the Shoreline Schools.

As the state closes similar facilities elsewhere, the number of school-aged residents placed at Fircrest has risen from one student in January 2006 to 25 students in January 2012. It should be noted that only one of the current school-aged residents actually resides in the Shoreline Schools attendance area.

The growing financial impact of the Fircrest program is an extraordinary burden for a district of Shoreline's size. Over the past three years, the funding provided to the District from the State for the Fircrest program has fallen far short of the actual costs. Since 2008, the District estimates that it has spent over $500,000 of its local funds on the Fircrest program — funds intended to serve the 8,700 students of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and legally not available to support an RHC.

This year alone, we anticipate that the legislative appropriation of $710,000 for the educational program for Fircrest residents will fall more than $400,000 short of the District's actual costs. Fircrest, which is operated by the state Department of Social and Health Services, has threatened to stop payment when the appropriation is depleted, even though our responsibility to provide educational services to these challenging students continues. We have asked for a per-student appropriation rather than a fixed one.

Another alarming recent trend is the placement of school-aged residents coming from jail facilities, where they have been incarcerated. Traditional Fircrest residents of the past are not prosecuted for crimes as a result of their disabilities. The safety and logistical issues associated with residents who are coming from jail are of great concern to our District and parent community since approximately half of the Fircrest students are served in our traditional schools, with age-appropriate peers.

As our safety concerns grow, so do the District's concerns for the workers' compensation claims related to staff serving Fircrest residents. We were recently notified of a judgment for $70,000 of back pay and weekly time-loss payments into the future for a former District employee injured by a Fircrest student. This brings our three-year total of workers' compensation claims related to the Fircrest educational program to more than $250,000, which does not include the negative impact to the District's labor and industries insurance rates.

We have been told recently by credible sources to expect a dramatic increase in school-aged residents at Fircrest prior to July 1, the effective date of the new law prohibiting the placement of children under 16 at the Fircrest facility.

While HB 2720 sponsored by Reps. Ruth Kagi and Cindy Ryu proposes to give priority funding to districts that serve RHCs, Shoreline respectfully requests that the Legislature make the educational program at Fircrest the responsibility of the state and not the Shoreline Schools. There are models that the Legislature could follow for Fircrest, such as making it a Local Educational Agency (LEA), as are the Washington State School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind. Another possibility would be for the state to provide for educational programs at Fircrest in a similar fashion to those serving juvenile inmates in adult correctional facilities.

As an educational community, we will watch this legislative session with high hopes for better outcomes for the Shoreline Schools as it relates to the Fircrest RHC.

Sincerely,
Sue Walker