FTE Tips for Special Education

• 3 “Count” Days

1. First Tuesday of October
2. First Thursday of December
3. First Thursday of March

• Counts 1 & 3 are funded and equal the state allotments provided for special education.
• Count 2 is a Federal information count.
• The Counts are a picture of the scheduled instructional services provided to students throughout the year.
• Each school day is divided into 6 instructional segments.
• One FTE (Full Time Equivalent) is equal to 6 instructional segments.
• One FTE may reflect services provided to 6 different students.
• SWD should be the first students scheduled at your school for the upcoming school year.
• FTE program weight is the numerical factor used to determine FTE funding.
• Program weights are not determined by how the teacher is certified, but by the eligibility category of the student.
• Each special education category has a maximum class size.
• Maximum class size defaults to the smallest size if disability categories are mixed.
• Paraprofessionals increase maximum class size; equivalent to 1/3 teacher.
• Three paraprofessionals are the maximum number that can be used to increase the maximum class size for any special education class.
• Not complying with the maximum class size requirements shall be subject to a complete loss of funding for the entire program that is out of compliance.
• No funding is received for students who are not present for at least 1 of the 10 days prior to the FTE count.
• All services reported must be in the students IEP.
• We earn money for paraprofessionals who work in regular classrooms to support inclusion. Placing paraprofessionals in regular education classrooms creates a Level 5 funding. This earns more supplies and materials for students.
• Collaborative Model-Special Education Teacher must be in class at least 50% of the instructional segment. Must meet maximum class size for eligibility category.
• Collaborative/Departmentalized Model-SWD is served by multiple special education teachers during the day to meet IEP segment requirements. SWD must be served for one segment daily by the teacher certified to teach the primary disability category.
• Consultative Model-SWD receives direct instruction from a teacher certified in the student’s primary are of disability AND student must receive such direct instruction for the majority of a segment on the day of the FTE count.
• Departmental Model-Middle and high school SWD served in a departmental model shall have an individual class size of  7 without a paraprofessional and 10 with a paraprofessional, provided the number of students of any one exceptionality within the class does not exceed the individual maximum class size for that exceptionality.
• Resource Delivery-instruction for SWD outside the regular classroom for three or fewer segments of the instructional day.
• Self-Contained Delivery-instruction for SWD in one area of exceptionality for 4 or more segments of the instructional day.
• In order to know how to maximize FTE funding, we need to know each SWD daily schedule (to make certain the IEPs match), the teacher’s schedule and who the students are that they serve in each segment (to make certain we are not exceeding maximum class size) and the paraprofessional’s schedule and who the students are that they serve in each segment (to maximize the earnings when paraprofessionals are used in regular education classrooms).