State Special Ed Requirements May Be Loosened

The State Education Department has asked the Board of Regents to approve a cost-cutting measure for special education students at tonight’s monthly meeting, and advocates are worried about its implications.

To save money, the SED wants certain mandates lifted, including a requirement that a psychologist be consulted when a student’s education plan has changed, and specific tests that are administered when a student is first evaluated for a disability, according to Gotham Schools. 

School psychologists currently help to make all decisions concerning the needs of their special education students, but the new regulations (PDF) would only require them to weigh-in on initials meetings with prospective special needs students. In addition, psychological evaluations, speech and language tests and assessments from therapists would no longer be required.

The Gotham Schools report says that these services are costly to school districts, and that extra requirements can be restrictive (New York has 200 more special education mandates than are required by the federal government).

The article quotes Regent Kathy Cashin, who is likely to oppose the measure, saying, “Our neediest children need protections.”

In June, , which allowed for increased enrollment in special education as a way for schools to get more federal funding, worried parents and educators who believed that class sizes were already too big for students with disabilities.