The number of children with EHCPs in Kent mirrors the national upward trend. More than 14,000 children across the county already have an EHC plan, and more than 30,000 receive SEN support without one….

“We have one young person who has been diagnosed with autism and has been waiting 18 months for their EHCP.

“We need additional funding and better access to support for those with additional needs and a more forward-thinking and earlier approach to support.” …

“The majority of our school-aged children and young people with SEN attend a special school, with a significant proportion attending ‘out of county’ special schools”.

Burlington, VT: “Two School Districts Create Their Own Programs for Students With Special Needs”

Facing a shortage of spots in schools that serve students with special needs, two Chittenden County public school districts have launched their own in-house programs this year.

Administrators say this approach will cost the same as — or less than — the districts currently spend and will provide other benefits for students who will be able to learn closer to home.

The Essex Westford School District has created the ARC Center — which stands for Academics, Relationships and Community — for students in grades three through eight who qualify for special education and require a high level of care.

The South Burlington School District, meanwhile, has started a yet-to-be-named program that will provide one-on-one and small group instruction and counseling to about 10 middle and high school students.

Leaders in both districts said they had no choice but to start homegrown programs to ensure that special education students receive the services they are entitled to by law….

Vermont's therapeutic schools operate independently but are paid by public school districts to educate students who need intensive academic, emotional or behavioral care.

Administrators across the state say openings in therapeutic programs have become increasingly scarce in recent years, while students' needs have become more complex.

Milwaukee, WI: “More Special Education Funding Is Needed State covers only 33% of the costs. That must be increased”

But despite only receiving funding to cover 33 percent of the cost to serve students with special needs, public schools across Wisconsin are legally required to continue providing special education services.

Governor Tony Evers fought to increase all public school spending this legislative cycle and made massive gains for teachers and schools everywhere. But special education funding was once again left behind – increasing only three percentage points, from covering 30% to covering just 33% of costs. We must do more. Our students with special needs deserve to attend public schools that are equipped to serve all students with excellence.

But these supports do not come cheap. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, budgeting for special education is an issue at public schools across the state. “Most districts had to pull between $1,000 and $2,000 in regular education funding per student to cover special education services that were not reimbursed by state and federal special education funding streams.” At Rocketship Wisconsin, we are currently spending roughly an additional $3,000 per student more than what the state provides to give our students with special needs the excellent education they deserve….

Milwaukee Public Schools has 83 percent economically disadvantaged students and 19 percent of all students are classified as having a disability.

Buffalo, NY: “New Falk School location trims waitlist for special education students in WNY”

Stanley G. Falk School Superintendent Rachael Greene saw the wait list for special education students referred to her agency exceed 200 at times last year.

The immense need underscored a national issue: A growing number of special needs students, most with challenging behaviors, rapidly outpaces the number of qualified special education teachers applying to work in individualized settings….

When the Tonawanda City School District consolidated three elementary schools into a new $54 million building this summer, Greene and Child and Family Services, Falk’s parent organization, leaped at the opportunity to take over one of the vacant schools and chip away at the wait list.

Eighty-five students in kindergarten through third grade ventured into 20 classrooms with support from 60 staff members, including teachers, aides, maintenance workers, nurses and a kitchen crew.

The elementary school will eventually welcome 120 students, Greene said, in classes with six students, one teacher and one aide, known in special education as 6:1:1 classes.

The Falk School includes three other campuses: Falk-Roosevelt elementary in Kenmore enrolls 162 students; Falk-Roessler high school in Cheektowaga-Sloan instructs 144 students, and Falk-Cambridge high school in Kenmore-Tonawanda is the largest, with 204 students.

Its entire 630-student population comprises referred students with a range of needs that includes a mental health diagnoses, behavioral disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Greene said they are united by “behavior impacting their learning in some way.”…

Teachers “saw the increased need of students,” Greene said, “while managing their own health and wellness.”

Virginia: “Parents say special education fails Virginia students with disabilities”

Wendy Little says she has been fighting for over a year to get Chesterfield County Public Schools to approve an Individualized Education Program – or IEP – for her 15-year-old son with autism, while facing constant pushback from school staff.

The school system has proposed cutting needed services to his education, placing him at the wrong school and reducing service hours with a special education teacher without so much as a conversation, Little said. The disagreement over this IEP document resulted in Little’s son, Eryn, being unenrolled for the entire 2022 school year with nowhere else to go….

Parents and advocates have faulted Virginia's system of teaching special education for years - through multiple governors' administrations - asserting that when parents buck local school divisions' plans for their children's education, parents rarely prevail. Parents' concerns have sparked civil suits, federal scrutiny and a 2020 state watchdog agency's report that found the state education department does not adequately meet the needs of students with disabilities.

At a June meeting of the Virginia State Board of Education, board member Bill Hansen called the special education system “fundamentally broken.”…

In Northern Virginia, a group of parents filed a federal complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools and the VDOE alleging that the state oversees a “systemically defective” system designed to “obstruct, delay and ultimately prevent” families with disabled children from getting educational rights guaranteed by law….

According to the 2020 report by the Virginia legislature's state watchdog agency, after its researchers reviewed a sample of about 100 complaints, the report concluded the state Department of Education does not ensure that problems are resolved or that noncompliance is corrected.

Administrators across the state say openings in therapeutic programs have become increasingly scarce in recent years, while According to the 2020 report by the Virginia legislature's state watchdog agency, after its researchers reviewed a sample of about 100 complaints, the report concluded the state Department of Education does not ensure that problems are resolved or that noncompliance is corrected.

Money is at the heart of these stories, but more importantly, it’s the numbers. These schools are struggling because there are just so many disabled children who have to be provided for.

All of these places acknowledge that there are more special needs students.

The Buffalo story calls this “a national issue” instead of called it the national disaster it clearly is.

The immense need underscored a national issue: A growing number of special needs students, most with challenging behaviors, rapidly outpaces the number of qualified special education teachers applying to work in individualized settings….

Why that is happening is never talked about, or else the problem is dismissed with a meaningless and simplistic statement like this one from Tunbridge:

The demand for specialist schools has clearly been fuelled by the increase in children needing SEN support.

The Milwaukee story hinted at the future for school districts dealing with soaring special ed numbers.

 “Most districts had to pull between $1,000 and $2,000 in regular education funding per student to cover special education services that were not reimbursed by state and federal special education funding streams.”

And we’re left with this chilling statement from Burlington, Vermont.

Students' needs have become more complex.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.

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