Nikki Otero Lockwood: Fully funding special ed pays dividends for all
By Nikki Otero Lockwood
As a current Spokane School Board member and a parent of a former public education student with disabilities, I am proud to live in a state that prioritizes the public education of our students, and I thank our state leaders for continuing to support public education.
A top priority for Spokane Public Schools and other Washington state organizations representing school directors, school administrators, and school business officials is to advocate for the state Legislature to fully fund special education.
In 2014, in a report by the Washington State Governor’s Office of Education to the Legislature, governor, and the superintendent of public instruction, it said, “The evidence is clear that disabilities do not cause disparate outcomes, but that the system itself perpetuates limitations in expectations and false belief systems about who children with disabilities can be and how much they can achieve in their lifetime.” This statement has strengthened my resolve to continue to improve special education resources in public schools.
No district in our state receives full funding for special education. Our state constitution requires funding of public schools, but when it was created, students with disabilities were not part of the public education system. We have come a long way in how students with disabilities are treated and supported, but their outcomes continue to represent part of the opportunity gap.
Our students with disabilities represent multiple and diverse needs including neurodiverse learners, students with physical impairments, learning disabilities, students with intense behavioral needs and more. Statewide, academic measures are lower for these students while 90% of them have average to above average intelligence. They disproportionately experience exclusionary discipline and are almost 100% of the students that are put in isolation rooms in our state’s schools. I am happy to say that Spokane Public Schools no longer uses isolation rooms.
In Spokane, we have started an inclusion pilot program with intentional training and resources. Inclusionary practices center on the needs of students with disabilities to learn with their general education peers while providing benefits to all students in the classroom. This allows for diverse classrooms where students learn together and create a sense of belonging. The data, including test scores, shows that inclusion is working in our schools.
We also have student stories about how inclusionary practices allow student success through the relationships developed between school staff, the student and families. Working as a team, starting in middle school, allowed one SPS student to receive the needed accommodations for the student to improve academically and socially. This, after a few exceedingly difficult years in elementary school where the student’s needs were not fully identified or met and included exclusion and bullying. This student, now in high school, advocated for the first flight school partnership for our district and will be one of the first students in it! In addition, this student wrote legislation last year to remove the cap for special education funding.
Inclusion is one example of resources to support students with disabilities. In 2019, Washington was one of the 10 least inclusive states. Since the state-funded inclusion pilot programming we have moved up but remain in the bottom half of state rankings. I am thankful OSPI, with legislative support, created these pilot opportunities.
There is strong research that when students with disabilities are educated as much as possible with their general education peers, they are more likely to be connected to the community as adults and have better outcomes. We all need connection to thrive, this is rooted in research, and the pandemic made this abundantly clear. Our communities need a workforce. People with disabilities are underrepresented in the workforce and over-represented in the incarcerated and homeless populations. Safety and housing are two big issues the state is trying to address. While looking at solutions, let’s include the proactive and upstream solutions.
Fully funding special education allows our students with disabilities to get what they need to meet their full potential. Fully funding special education gives our educators and administrators the tools they need to equitably support students with disabilities. Fully funding special education will strengthen our communities.
Nikki Otero Lockwood, of Spokane, is vice president of the Spokane Public Schools Board of Directors.