Spokane-area school districts count special education students differently

Most local school districts don’t count special education students the way Spokane Public Schools does based on a policy that has prompted a former administrator to allege discrimination.

But those districts acknowledge that extra resources are required for special education students.

The Spokane district counts each special education student as 1.5 students for class-size purposes. District officials say the policy helps special education students by giving them added attention through lower class sizes and ensures more equitable teacher workload.

But Laura Pieper, the former director of special education for Spokane Public Schools, filed the complaint in May alleging that by weighting students with Individualized Education Programs differently, the district is discriminating against them.

Individualized Education Programs are specialized instruction plans for students with learning disabilities. The specifics of an IEP vary, but they allow student accommodations.

Vicki Arnold, president of the Central Valley Education Association, said the teacher contract requires the district to make a “best faith effort” to limit the number of special education students in secondary general education classrooms to half that of special education specific classroom size limits. More than 2,100 Central Valley students have IEPs.

“It’s really up to the individual teacher to have that discussion with the principal to say, ‘I really need some help here,’ ” she said.

Arnold said the union tried in the past decade to add a weighting policy, which counts special education students like Spokane’s policy, to the teacher contract.

“It is not that we haven’t tried to bargain that in,” Arnold said. “It’s just that we haven’t been successful.”

Molly Carolan, the special education director in the Central Valley School District, said teachers, parents and administrators work together to determine what students with IEPs need.

“In our contract, special education students are treated just as a regular average student,” Carolan said. “A special education student is a general education student first.”

Like Central Valley, the West Valley School District doesn’t weight special education students. Doug Matson, deputy superintendent, said the district, which has about 500 students with IEPs, provides services as needed.

“It gets into some issues that we don’t want to deal with,” he said of weighting special education students. “All our students are part of basic education.”

The East Valley School District, which has 667 students with IEPs, also doesn’t use a weighting system.

“We just try to keep our classrooms relatively equitable,” said Superintendent Kelly Shea. “We’re also taking into consideration what we know about students and what we know about teachers.”

East Valley Assistant Superintendent Tom Gresch said he’s worked in a number of area school districts, and while they each account for special education students differently, the goal is ultimately the same.

“You just have to find what ways you connect with kids and that’s what educators do,” he said.

The Mead School District’s teacher contract says, “the District shall ensure an equitable distribution of students in general education classrooms for those whom have accommodations required by law.”

Mead district officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Pieper’s complaint against Spokane Public Schools alleges that the district’s 1.5 weighting policy is a violation of federal special education law and discriminates against special education students.

The U.S. Department of Education is reviewing the complaint. The weighting policy has been in place in Spokane since the 1970s, said district special education Director Lisa Pacheco.

Pacheco said the district is reviewing the 1.5 weighting policy independently of the federal investigation. Spokane Public Schools reports it has 4,637 students with IEPs.

“We want to make sure that we are providing the best services possible to kids and that we are responsible that way,” she said.