More than 100 people testified this week that the state of special education in D.C. was in “crisis” and that despite years of advocacy, that difficult reality isn’t improving.
In two meetings of the D.C. Council’s Committee of the Whole, parents and teachers said that despite progress in general education, there is a stark achievement gap between students with disabilities and the general student body, an issue that has been exacerbated by transportation and classroom shortcomings.
D.C. special education rates have risen sharply. There are 63% more students identified as having special needs since the 2013-2014 school year, a rate that outpaces overall enrollment over the same period.
Better staffing, professional development and academic proficiency for students were identified as crucial. Several witnesses said problems in those areas are compounded by students’ difficulties in getting to and from school.
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Kara Schoo, who oversees special education programming and compliance at D.C. Wildflower Public Charter School, had a list of concerns: special education buses not arriving on time for weeks at a time, buses not arriving at all, bus staff refusing accommodations outlined in individualized education programs, or IEPs, buses dropping students off at the wrong address or school, and accidents involving children onboard buses with no notification to families or staff.
“These issues result in students missing IEP services, which significantly impacts their progress,” Schoo said.
Witnesses expressed concerns about the effectiveness of a bus tracking app used by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s Department of Transportation. Ward 5 resident and parent Jennifer Lewis said she has had to track her daughter’s location through AirTags to understand delays.
“It showed that the bus would travel away from our neighborhood after picking her up, and then return towards us about 45 minutes later, coming within seven tenths of a mile from our home,” she said.
Council Chair Phil Mendelson called testimony from the transportation hearing “disturbing.”
Dan Winston, OSSE DOT’s director of student transportation, admitted the agency struggled to meet time metrics. He also said that as of Oct. 6, at least 265 of the OSSE DOT’s 603 buses were not operational. But he praised the agency’s Parent Stipend Program, which provides families with a $400 monthly stipend for alternative transportation.
Also prevalent was testimony about parents needing to rely on legal complaints, which allow families to advocate for special education services through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, to resolve issues instead of simply going through schools’ IEP pathways.
“When we had this hearing a year ago, I pressed DCPS: Why are you providing special education through litigation?” said Mendelson. “Has it gotten any better?”
Witnesses said no. They testified the process for students to receive services through IEPs may take years, and many families continue to have to sue to get their children special education services.
“I could share countless stories of walking alongside families jaded by special education in our public schools,” said Emily Griswold, the founder of teacher retention organization 11:11 Wellness. “Each is dealing with a sad reality that due process is often the only space that exists to know if your kid is actually making progress.”
Other issues discussed in the meetings included overcrowded classrooms and teacher burnout. Griswold testified that she has observed these realities from all sides.
“Colleagues quitting midyear, general education teachers isolating children with challenging behaviors and parents fighting tooth and nail to get to the service promised to them in federal law — in short, the specialized instruction problem in the district is structural, and not telling the truth about these systems is no longer an option,” she said.
In the second hearing, At-Large council member Christina Henderson continued to advocate for her Advancing Equity in Special Education Protocols Amendment Act, which would keep students with IEPs in their original schools unless there is no program available to support their needs. The bill would also require that a child’s IEP team be notified if a school couldn’t meet a student’s needs.
“This was kind of an opportunity for us to check in because at the time it was represented from the government and the executive that everything is fine, we’ve got it under control, everything is fine,” Henderson said. “And I’m hearing from the testimony, nope, not fine, and we don’t have it all together.”
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