ST. CLOUD -- A long-time member of the St. Cloud School Board, Jerry Von Korff, and the St. Cloud NAACP plan to sue the state over the lack of adequate funding over special education.

Essentially, the lawsuit will allege the state does not provide enough funding to schools to provide enough resources for proper special education. Von Korff says this forces them to dip into their general funds.

"The difference between what the state makes districts spend, and the money they provide to the districts is not only leaving them with a huge deficit, but impairing their ability to provide programs that other students need."

Von Korff says the state is violating the constitution by not providing the required funds.

He says the Department of Education has tracked the deficit for this issue at $1.5-billion every two years for the entire state. Von Korff says districts like St. Cloud have a larger share of this deficit than others.

"[In District 742] for the average student in special ed, the district runs a deficit of $2,000 per student more than surrounding districts. That's not the [entire] deficit, that's the difference in the deficit [so the problem is not equally shared]."

He says the state audits districts on their special education funding and will sanction them if they're not spending enough to meet state requirements.

The lawsuit will ask for more special ed funding. However, the lawsuit will still state districts need to provide the government with a well-researched proposal detailing what those extra funds would be used for.

District 742 is not a party in the lawsuit. Von Korff and the NAACP hope to file by the end of the month.

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