Historical Overview
The Innovative Special Education Services (ISES) began through the collaborative efforts of early charter school leaders and the commissioner and special education division leaders in the MN Department of Education (MDE). In 1997, an advisory board was formed to design a special education project that would provide guidance, direction and support to charters in developing and implementing a total special education system. From 1997 to 2008, the ISES developed a grant proposal for the evolving special education system needs of charter schools. For each of these year, the MDE has approved this grant to support the staff and activities.
In the first year of operation, the project was staffed with one professional position to address the technical assistance and training needs of 24 charter schools. Within six months, the charter school population increased to 34 schools and an administrative assistant position was added. Within two and a half years, the ISES's original mission was expanded to address the legal requirement that every charter school have a special education director. The ISES expanded to include an additional 1 FTE director of special education to address what has become a pattern of charter school expansion across the state. The types and complexity of needs related to staffing/licensing, budgeting, billing, contracting and dispute resolution issues when added to the ongoing need for due process and programming guidance called for the development of a clear identification of project service options.
By February 2002, the Advisory Board concluded that ISES needed to respond to the continuing growth. The MDE capped the amount of federal dollars available to fund ISES.
It was expected that more than 80 charter schools would be operational in 2002-2003. The Board carefully considered options to address increased funding needs, a result of the ISES' expansion. This advisory board unanimously decided to assess fees for the 2002-2003 school year for the various service categories.
During the last few years additional staff has been hired and contracted with to handle the increase in the number of charter schools.
-
2002-2003: Assistant Director position to support (consultation) charter school directors and provide training. One FTE Program Director and part-time (.5) contracted Director.
-
2003-2004: Fees continued and another full-time Director was added (replacing the full-time Assistant Director) to work with the 54 schools contracted with ISES.
-
2004-2005: Increasing to 76 schools allowed an increase of 1.3 FTE Director and increased Coordinator time.
-
2005-2006: Increasing to 88 schools brought additional director and coordinator time.
As ISES heads into its tenth year of existence, it looks quite different from its first years of operation. The evolution of the ISES is a testimony to the success of charter schools in Minnesota. It has been a road well worth taking. Parents have more choices. Children with disabilities are being well served and Minnesota is recognized nationally for its charter school special education administrative services model.