Special Ed in Crisis, Report Finds

By Juliet McShannon
Staff Writer

Feb. 3 -- The cash-strapped School District farmed out nearly $4 million last year for Special Education services because its program is in a state of crisis and in many areas has failed to comply with state and federal laws, according to a report by the district’s program director.

The report -- which was publicly unveiled at a School Board meeting last month -- found that special education is seriously lacking at all grade levels, forcing the district to outsource services to private agencies for everything from reading tutors to behavior intervention specialists.

The practice has led to escalating costs to the district, which paid nearly $1 million from its general fund in addition to the approximately $10 million in state and federal funds it received to run special education.

Money is also being spent to defend the program against parents who are suing because their special needs children are not receiving an adequate education.

"The three million dollars that the district currently spends on non public schools and agencies could be better utilized creating exemplary programs for our special education students," Cindy Atlas, the district’s director of special education wrote in the report.

"The only way to drive down the high cost of non public school and agency placements and due process cases is to offer appropriate programs," Atlas wrote in the report, which was completed last May and presented to the board at its meeting January 7.

School Board President Jose Escarce called the report “disturbing,” and noted that the district’s general fund contribution to special education is perhaps the highest in the state.

The findings, along with testimony from parents, Escarce said, is “quite disturbing, quite depressing and in a sense it’s almost incomprehensible. I think it would be possible to comprehend a poor program that was very inexpensive…. What makes it so hard to understand is I think we have a very costly program.”

Federal and state Special Education laws require school districts to offer an identified Special Education student a “free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment.”

In accordance with these laws, if special needs programs are not available in the district schools, then the district, at its expense, must offer the student an appropriate program in a non-public school.

"Early intervention is fundamental to the development of pre-academic skills, behavior, speech and sensory needs but at present preschool programs do not have the adequate capacity to satisfy pre-school children with special needs," the report said.

The report goes on to state that although there has been a 200 percent increase in identifying children with autism, no designated program exists in the district for these children.

The costs of outsourcing services has been adding up, the report found.
During the past school year, for example, the district paid an outside agency $213,650 to provide behavior services for six preschoolers.

That was in addition to the $737,170 already spent for ten contracts with behavior intervention specialists serving 21 elementary students, according to the report.

In addition, the report found that at the elementary level, there is only one reading program for a cross-section of students with different learning disabilities and different reading levels.

As a result, the district spent $78,980 for non-public agencies such as Kelter Center and Lindamood-Bell, to tutor students, in addition to employing two reading specialists who work with a mere 10 students.

It will also cost the district $183,980 this year to serve only 17 students, money Atlas said would be better spent for a district Learning Resource Center which would benefit more students. Tutoring services alone will dent the school budget by another $183,930, Atlas said.

The report found that Secondary school programs are also deficient. The Intensive Studies class at SAMOHI, for instance, has only one teacher for 16 students with severe learning disabilities.

In addition, a discriminatory grading policy at district high schools gives students “special education grades," which do not count towards the cumulative GPA.

Atlas found this to be an "unacceptable practice" that incurs "extraordinary costs" by forcing the district to place students in non-public schools.

The current crisis has led to a marked rise in mediation cases, at increasing cost to the district, as more and more disgruntled parents of special needs students are resorting to legal redress.

The district has hired the law firm Lozano Smith to deal with the complaints. The firm currently charges the district for each attorney's billable rate rather than a flat fee, which, according to Atlas, would reduce costs and enable the firm to "address issues proactively rather than reactively."

Superintendent John Deasy said that Atlas's report is "helpful in breaking down the problem areas in special education that need to be addressed."

"We will be able to address some of the problems and provide high quality programs to reduce non-public school placements,” Deasy told The Lookout. “We will have to work within the budget constraints. We have no choice."