Students tell Senate education panel Act 73’s formula could slash special-education services in Essex Western

Emma Caputi, a student representative on the Essex Western School District school board, and Cyrus, a junior at Essex High School and student board representative, told the Senate Education Committee on March 13 that the foundation formula proposed under Act 73 threatens special-education services in their district.

Caputi said the district relies heavily on special-education supports: “31% of students receive support through an IEP or a 504 plan. That's more than one in three students,” and that special education represents about a third of the district’s budget. She told the committee that “under Act 73, EWSD could lose nearly $6 million due to the Formula Foundation.”

Cyrus expanded on the local impact, saying the foundation formula “will cut significant funding for special education and EWSD will be forced to replace these funds or lose $1.4 million of government money.” He described how recent cuts already forced the district to eliminate about 100 staff positions and warned that an additional $6 million in reductions would require cutting entire programs such as student transportation and athletics.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about federal maintenance-of-effort rules and possible penalties. One member summarized that districts must not reduce special-education spending below prior-year levels without risking federal funding, and thanked the students for highlighting the practical trade-offs the formula could impose at the local level.

The committee invited the students to follow up with more detailed, solution-oriented proposals; members suggested a student-focused working group or a written proposal from student councils to inform future deliberations. No formal action was taken during the session.

Caputi and Cyrus’s testimony focused the committee’s attention on the interaction between the state’s foundation-formula redesign and federal maintenance-of-effort requirements, and underscored the potential programmatic consequences for students who receive IEP and 504 accommodations.