California boosts special education funding by $2.4 billion, aiming to address gaps after federal cuts and enhance support for students with disabilities statewide.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As students are in the dog days of summer, California is preparing for back to school by making a record investment in special education.
In a budget trailer bill signed by Newsom, the state will provide an additional $2.4 billion in special education — a 43% increase from last year.
“We’ve got to do more to individualize education. All of us learn differently, and so we have to do things differently,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
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The investments will be available to all schools that can bolster their special needs programs by increasing the number of reading specialists, behavioral health aides, and one-on-one counselors for students.
“The increased special education funding will help ensure students with disabilities have access to the assessments, services, and supports they need to succeed in school,” The Twin Rivers Unified School District said in a statement, in part.
The state investment comes after the federal government dismantled the Education Department. The moves include shuttering the California branch of the Office of Civil Rights as part of a national reshuffling of special education responsibilities to both the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.
“With federal law as the heavy anchor, our goal in this partnership is to break down the bureaucratic barriers and strengthen the coordination of resources to improve programs that serve infants, toddlers, children, and adults,” wrote Education Secretary Linda McMahon in an opinion piece for Fox News.
Last month, California, along with Rhode Island and Wisconsin, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education over the cancellation of the grants.
Megan Stanton-Trehan, an attorney with Disability Rights California, says she’s happy to see California step up to fill in the gaps left by the federal government.
“Oftentimes, the struggle is just figuring out what exactly the students need and making sure that they’re able to get it for them, so that’s what the additional funding will do at the local level and hopefully will lead to fewer families feeling like their child is experiencing discrimination and other harmful effects in school,” Stanton-Trehan said.
ABC10 reached out to the Department of Education for comment on the lawsuit over the special education grants.
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