San Diego Unified School District leaders announced plans Tuesday to fix “systemic” issues in its special education program.
“We are looking to redesign our system with one purpose to ensure every student with a disability has access to meaningful learning, timely support and a safe and inclusive environment,” said Superintendent Fabi Bagula.
The district is facing a projected $47 million budget deficit for next school year.
Chronic underfunding of special education from the state and federal government is financially straining the district, Bagula said. They're advocating for more funding from both of those sources.
“I’m bringing up this issue now because actually we should of brought it up a long time ago. This has been a problem for a very long time,” Bagula said.
Special education services now cost the district roughly $400 million annually, but they only receive about $125 million from the state and federal government, according to the district. The remaining $275 million for special education services comes out of the general fund.
One of the issues they want to solve is the "overidentification of students for special education services,” the district said.
The district did not immediately respond to KPBS questions about how or why students are being “overidentified" for special education. A spokesperson said they plan to get into specifics of the special education system redesign at a later date.
The district said the number of students requiring services has surged in the last decade.
In 2015 about 11% of students in the district had Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, this year it’s over 17%, district data show.
Bagula said test scores are low among their special education population.
“To truly construct a system that is going to help the education of every child with an IEP we need the funding to provide that proactive system,” Bagula said.
Sarah Kieffer relies on special education programs for her son who’s in first grade. She’s also the chair of the district’s Community Advisory Committee for Special Education.
Underfunding of special education has long affected student services, she said.
“I see other families struggle. My biggest thing is I want families not to have to know the ins and outs of this system just to get the services my child gets,” Kieffer said.
District officials are expected to talk more about what’s causing the projected budget deficit at Wednesday’s school board meeting.
