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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Lockwood, Ladwig: Don’t leave special-needs students behind

By Nikki Lockwood and Darcy Ladwig For The Spokesman-Review

We are two parents with eighth-grade daughters, with different special needs, in public school within Spokane County. Like all parents, we want our daughters to meet their full potential. We are very concerned that proposed bills in the Washington Legislature written to fully fund education will leave them, and other students with special needs, behind.

Both proposed education budget bills, SB 5607 and HB 1843 (to address McCleary v. State) increase funding for nearly every program except special education. Neither updates the outdated model for special education funding, which is 20 years old, including arbitrary caps and creating a system where local school districts have to make up the gaps in needs as best they can using local levy money and safety net funds.

Not adequately funding special education affects all students, not just those with special needs. Many students with special needs are in general education classrooms and not meeting their needs can affect the whole class, ask any teacher. Furthermore, all students benefit by inclusion where differently abled students learn together and being different and included is normalized. Our community pays less in tax dollars when all kids achieve positive educational outcomes and we decrease dropout rates and increase post school employment, training or higher education.

Students with Individual Educational Plans (a federal law requires that public schools create IEPs for every special education student) are two to three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their peers. One of our daughters was suspended when her IEP was not implemented to provide the supports she needed at recess, related to autism. Three children, all in general education, were affected in this incident, including my daughter. For the rest of that year she primarily read alone at recess, her social skills getting further behind, the IEP ignored.

For another fourth-grade student with autism, with an IQ above 120, the deescalation room his IEP promised was not set up and instead was used for storage. He was sent to juvenile detention when his behavior escalated, essentially criminalizing autism. Spending money on punitive measures instead of meeting our kid’s needs costs the community more over time. Repeated suspensions and expulsions set up children for poor educational outcomes.

In elementary school, one of our daughters experienced an IEP that allowed her to work on her academic and social emotional goals with proper peer and staff supports, adapted curriculum and accommodations, allowing independence. Middle school has been a different story. Suddenly, a child who was thriving started to have behaviors described as “combative” and “unsafe.” Her entire middle school experience has been about managing behaviors, with little time spent focusing on her academic goals. Through a Functional Behavior Assessment (a comprehensive assessment that looks at the reasons behind a child’s behavior problems in order to improve behavior), we learned that her “behaviors” stem from decreased involvement (inclusion) with her typically developing peers and limited choice and control in her school day. This non-verbal student has been giving voice to her unmet needs through problem behaviors.

Fortunately, Spokane Public Schools is reforming discipline practices after the Every Student Counts Alliance brought attention to their high rates of suspensions and expulsions, including disproportionality toward students with special needs. I applaud the commitment and improvements already seen in SPS discipline rates. Further funding will be essential in creating safe environments for teaching and learning for all students.

Our daughters have the same right to a fully funded education as anyone else, and an even greater need. We know they can be successful, contributing community members and want a system that supports high expectations. The education ombudsman wrote in 2014, in a report to our state education governing bodies, “The evidence is clear that disabilities do not cause disparate outcomes, but that the system itself perpetuates limitations in the expectations and false belief systems about who children with disabilities can be and how much they can achieve in their lifetime.”

We urge legislators to return to the table and remove the arbitrary cap on special education and keep and raise “the multiplier” tying special education to basic education. We call on our legislators to update and revise our funding model for education and to create comprehensive solutions to our overall budget inadequacies. We need sustainable, equitable and sufficient means to fund our public schools while addressing our other state budget obligations. We don’t need political theater and short-term fixes; we need lawmakers to roll up their sleeves and publicly serve.

Nikki Lockwood is a volunteer leader with the Every Student Counts Alliance and Fuse Spokane. Darcy Ladwig works in Advocacy and Family Support at The Arc of Spokane.