Unequal Education: Special education policies differ from state to state

Qualifying for those services can be a huge battle for the families of millions of children

August 22, 2022

Funding special education

Experts and the federal government itself recognize the lack of funding is problematic for special education.

When the government enacted IDEA in 1975, the legislation came with a commitment to fund 40% of the average cost per special education student, but that promise hasn’t been kept.

As of 2020, only 13.2% of the cost of special education has been covered according to the National Education Association (NAE), a labor union. In Washington, D.C. alone, the NEA says the funding needed to fully cover special education falls short by more than $61 billion.

Neas, with the Department of Education, said states have an obligation to cover the majority of the cost of special education. But she insists Congress also needs to step up to the plate in a more significant way. “We’re going to pay for the needs of these individuals one way or the other. And if we give kids more opportunities in school, they’re going to be independent adults. They’re going to need less support throughout the rest of their lives,” she said. “I kind of feel like, pay me now or pay me later. The investments we make in education for students with disabilities, we will reap the benefits of that for decades to come.”

Some members of Congress are already trying to answer that call to provide more funding. Last year Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, and Congressman Jared Huffman, D-Calif., introduced the IDEA Full Funding Act.

The legislation would offer permanent and mandatory funding to grant programs to help states and other underlying areas for special education and related services for children with disabilities.

“I think that the fact that the federal government has shortchanged schools and not met this commitment, has meant the local schools throughout the country also are shortchanging students in their budgets,” said Van Hollen. “And the impact is felt by kids with disabilities.”

Van Hollen said the bill would mean more special education teachers and significantly more resources in the classroom to help children with disabilities. The bill currently sits in the House.

If the legislation passes, it would alleviate some of the burdens. But challenges remain in the special education system, with training for educators among some of the most pressing issues.

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, a mom and a special education advocate in Texas, said she thinks all teachers should have some sort of special education training regardless of their discipline.

Without that, she says parents have to figure out the system on their own. For Giwa Onaiwu, she faced her own hardships as an adoptive and biological parent of children on the spectrum.

“Trying to navigate special education was just so overwhelming,” Giwa Onaiwu said. “It felt like some kind of game of whack a mole.”

She often felt like she had to Google terms and find the information herself.

“I felt like I spent more time looking things up to make sure they weren’t getting something over on me for my kids than anything else and I said ‘Wow, I don’t want anybody else to go through this,” Giwa Onaiwu said.

She now uses her experience to help advocate for less isolation among special education students and help create a more inclusive environment.

After spending years navigating the special education system, mom Edith Goodwin believes more needs to be done to help families whose children may experience learning difficulties. And she’d like to see more uniformity in the process of obtaining services, so geography isn’t a factor.

Her son, Joseph, is once again enrolled in programs she firmly believes are helping him achieve his educational goals. But she worries about what will happen if the family has to move again.

“They’re getting a great education here in Oregon,” Goodwin said. “But if you go to another state, we’ll have to do the process all over again, just because they were in school and just because there is special education that doesn’t guarantee an education.”


By:  Joce Sterman, Daniela Molina, Jon Decker, Jamie Grey, Yelta Reyna, Hannah Lorenzo, Samantha Latson, Lizzie Wright and Lauren Truex
Source: WDBJ 7