New LAO Report "Overview of Special Education in California"

On January 3, 2013, the State's Legislative Analyst's Office ("LAO") issued a report entitled Overview of Special Education in California. The report provides a broad summary of special education.

Below is the Executive Summary of the report.  A link to the full report is at the bottom of this page.

LAO's Executive Summary

Special education is the “catch–all” term that encompasses the specialized services that schools provide for disabled students. This report provides a comprehensive review of special education—conveying information on applicable laws, affected students, services, funding, and student outcomes.

Public Schools Must Provide Special Support for Disabled Students. Federal law requires schools to provide “specially defined [sic] instruction, and related services, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.” The law requires schools to provide disabled students with these special supports from age 3 until age 22, or until they graduate from high school, whichever happens first. These services are in addition to what a nondisabled student receives.

About One in Ten California Students Receives Special Education Services. About 686,000 students with disabilities (SWDs) receive special education services in California, comprising about 10 percent of the state’s public school enrollment. Specific learning disabilities—including dyslexia—are the most common diagnoses requiring special education services (affecting about 4 percent of all K–12 students), followed by speech and language impairments. While the overall prevalence of students with autism and chronic health problems still is relatively rare (each affecting 1 percent or less of all public school students), the number of students diagnosed with these disabilities has increased notably over the past decade.

Special Education Services Vary Based on Individual Student Needs. Federal law only requires schools to provide special education services to students with diagnosed disabilities that interfere with their educational attainment. To determine a student’s need and eligibility for special education, schools must conduct a formal evaluation process. If schools determine that general education programs cannot adequately meet a disabled student’s needs, they develop Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to define the additional services the school will provide. Each student’s IEP differs based on his or her particular disability and needs. Specialized academic instruction is the most common service that schools provide. This category includes any kind of specific practice that adapts the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to help SWDs access the general curriculum. Other commonly provided services include speech and language assistance and various types of therapies for physical and psychological needs that may be impeding a SWD’s educational attainment. Although federal law encourages schools to educate disabled students in mainstream settings, most (about three–quarters) of special education services are delivered in settings other than regular classrooms.

In General, the State Uses a Regional Structure to Organize Special Education. Because economies of scale often improve both programmatic outcomes and cost–effectiveness, special education funding and some services are administered regionally by 127 Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPAs) rather than by the approximately 1,000 school districts in the state. Most SELPAs are collaborative consortia of nearby districts, county offices of education (COEs), and charter schools, although some large districts have formed their own independent SELPAs, and three SELPAs consist of only charter schools.

The Excess Costs Associated With Providing Special Education Services Are Supported by Federal, State, and Local Funds. Schools receive billions of dollars to provide a basic educational program—including teachers, instructional materials, academic support, and enrichment activities—for all students, including SWDs. The average annual costs of educating a SWD, however, are more than double those of a mainstream student—approximately $22,300 compared to $9,600. (It is important to note that most SWDs require less severe, less costly services, whereas some students require intensive interventions that cost notably more than $22,300 per year.) Schools receive categorical funds to cover a portion of these additional, or “excess costs,” associated with addressing students’ disabilities. Because federal and state special education funds typically are not sufficient to cover the costs of all IEP–required services, however, schools spend from their local unrestricted general funds to make up the difference. In 2010–11, special education expenditures totaled $8.6 billion. State special education categorical funds covered the largest share of these costs (43 percent), combined with spending from local general purpose funds (39 percent) and federal special education funds (18 percent). Over the past several years, a combination of increasing special education costs and relatively flat state and federal special education funding has resulted in local budgets covering an increasing share of these costs.

Special Education Funds Allocated to SELPAs Based on Overall Student Population, Not Number of Disabled Students. California relies primarily on a “census–based” funding methodology that allocates special education funds to SELPAs based on the total number of students attending, regardless of students’ disability status. This funding model implicitly assumes that SWDs—and associated special education costs—are relatively equally distributed among the general student population and across the state. The amount of per–pupil funding each SELPA receives varies based on historical factors. In 2011–12, the weighted statewide average per–pupil rate was $645 per student (including both state and federal funds). After receiving its allocation, each SELPA develops a local plan for how to allocate funds to the school districts and charter schools in its region based on how it has chosen to organize special education services for SWDs.

Mixed Academic Outcomes for Disabled Students. Some performance indicators suggest SWDs generally are performing well, whereas other indicators are less encouraging. For example, performance on standardized tests (including those specifically designed for SWDs) has improved over the past several years, but a majority of SWDs still fail to meet state and federal achievement expectations. As SWDs near the end of their time receiving special education services, data show that about 60 percent of SWDs graduate on time with a high school diploma and about two–thirds of SWDs are engaged productively after high school (with about half enrolled in an institute of higher education and 15 percent competitively employed within one year after high school).


The complete report, Overview of Special Education in California, is available in PDF or HTML from the LAO.

Join KMTG Attorneys at the ACSA Every Child Counts Symposium!

The 2012 Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Every Child Counts Symposium will take place this year on January 16-18 at the Portola Hotel and Spa in Monterey. This annual event is hosted by ACSA’s Student Services and Special Education Council.

This year several KMTG attorneys were again selected as speakers and panel participants, including Diane Beall on the hot-topics Legal Issues Panel on Thursday afternoon and Meghan Covert Russell presenting “Leaving a Paper Trail: Best Practices for District Retention and Disclosure of Documents” on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

If you are attending the ACSA symposium you won't want to miss these insightful presentations by members of the KMTG Special Education group. We hope to see you there!

For more information about the symposium, please visit ACSA's website here.

Twitter Town Hall 4/11 Hosted by Council for Exceptional Children

On Wednesday, April 11 at noon PST, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Alexa Posny, will host a Twitter Town Hall discussion.  The discussion, which coincides with CEC's Annual Conference and Expo, will focus on "the importance of early learning, great teachers and leaders, high student achievement, and college and career readiness as we strive to improve results and outcomes for all infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities."

To participate, use the hashtag #CECTownHall or follow @usedgov, @arneduncan and @CECMembership.  

For more information, visit the US Department of Education's blog post here.

Meghan Covert Russell

You can also read these blog posts and other education and law-related news on Twitter by following @MeghanCRussell

Legal Alert: Dear Colleague Letter, Clarifying 2008 ADA Amendments Act

On January 19, 2012, the US Department of Education’s (“DOE”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Dear Colleague letter and Questions and Answers regarding the impact of the 2008 amendments to Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) on public school districts.  These documents provide guidance on the requirements of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (“Section 504”) in light of the changes made by the 2008 ADA Amendments Act (“Amendments Act”).  Generally these amendments have the effect of broadening the definition of what constitutes a disability, and thus who will receive special education services from school districts.

For more information please see our complete Legal Alert here.

Meghan Covert Russell