Top Takeaways<\/p>\n
School districts in California pay for students with disabilities to attend \u201cnon-public schools,\u201d specialized private schools where they can get their needs met \u2014 often outside district boundaries.<\/p>\n
Some parents advocate for districts to operate their own local non-public schools to reduce commutes and improve the students\u2019 quality of life.<\/p>\n
Oakland Unified is pursuing a local nonpublic school for the first time.<\/p>\n
Lillian Ansari\u2019s daughter, Atrina, endured two years of long commutes from Oakland to Marin to attend her nonpublic school.<\/p>\n
Cars provided by Oakland Unified School District shuttled Atrina, then 12, across the busy Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for school commutes that could \u2014 at the worst \u2014 take up to four hours given other students that had to be picked up along the way and traffic accidents. One such drive left Atrina, who has tuberous sclerosis complex, autism and epilepsy, \u201ca mess when she got home,\u201d her mom said, recalling her daughter\u2019s tendency to freeze up after disruptions to her routine.<\/p>\n
The 100 or so Oakland students who attend nonpublic schools \u2014 specialized private schools that serve public-school students with disabilities \u2014 are left with no other option than to commute outside their district\u2019s boundaries because no such schools exist in the city. Students are placed in these private schools by the district, which are specialized for students with disabilities, where they receive tailored support for behavioral learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But now, for the first time, Oakland Unified is moving to help create a local nonpublic school option \u2014 an effort that could spare students with disabilities from lengthy commutes across the Bay Area and save money for the district.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Blake, head of special education at Oakland Unified, said the district has contemplated opening a nonpublic school, or NPS, since 2019.\u00a0 This marks the first time\u00a0OUSD has formally issued\u00a0a request for proposal<\/a>, inviting NPS contractors to apply to lease district facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Partnering with an NPS could be a win for both the district and families, Blake said. She pointed to a model used by Seneca<\/a> Family of Agencies and West Contra Costa Unified School District, in which Seneca operates an NPS in a WCCUSD-owned facility at a reduced cost while reserving seats for local students. Blake said OUSD hopes to create a similar arrangement that prioritizes Oakland students through benefits such as enrollment preference or reduced free tuition.<\/p>\n How nonpublic schools placement works in Oakland Unified:<\/p>\n Students in Oakland who have NPS placements are scattered across the Bay Area, with 102 students now placed across 20 schools, Jennifer Blake said. Once the school is up and running, the district will speak with families to consider location changes from other nonpublic schools that are far from Oakland. They will also consider it as a potential placement option for new referrals if the needs of the student are well-matched to the school.<\/p>\n No single NPS fits all. The Helix School<\/a> in San Rafael, for example, specializes in serving autistic children and those with related developmental challenges, while the Bayhill School<\/a> in Berkeley specializes in serving students with learning disabilities like ADHD and dyslexia.<\/p>\n NPS placements are approved and funded when a school district determines it cannot adequately serve a child with disabilities, or when families can prove that a specialized private program would better meet their child\u2019s needs. Ansari, whose son also attended a nonpublic school, said securing those placements through OUSD was time-consuming and exhausting.<\/p>\n Ansari\u2019s son, now 21, has autism and dyspraxia. He attended OUSD schools through fifth grade, where Ansari said he often \u201cmasked<\/a>\u201d \u2014 suppressing behaviors associated with autism to fit in socially. Teachers often told her he was doing well, she said, but at home he would collapse from anxiety and stress.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t acting out, and in their eyes, he was fine, he was OK, because he wasn\u2019t flinging chairs across the room,\u201d Ansari said.<\/p>\n When Ansari and her husband asked the district for additional support, she said her son\u2019s individualized education program, or IEP, team told them he was fine as long as he could access his education. The family then began searching for a private placement and found Springstone School, an NPS in Lafayette.\u00a0<\/p>\n During a campus visit, Ansari recalled her son turning to her and saying, \u2018Mommy, pinch me, I can\u2019t believe it. These kids are all like me here.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/p>\n L.A.\u2019s special education parents constantly advocate \u2014\u00a0and students still feel unsafe at school, survey finds<\/a><\/p>\n May 6, 2026<\/p>\n That sense of belonging became a deciding factor for the family, Ansari said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs an adult, I want to be with people that get me,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to be among my peers. Why would I want less for him?\u201d<\/p>\n Nonpublic school placements typically begin<\/a> with the IEP process. If an IEP team \u2014 usually made up of family members, a general education teacher, a special education teacher, a district administrator and at least one other person \u2014 determines a student cannot get a free appropriate public education<\/a>, the team may recommend an NPS placement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parents can still request an NPS, even if the IEP team does not recommend one. This is what Ansari and her husband did. She said the district rejected their Springstone placement request. Tuition at the school starts at about $36,000<\/a> a year, relatively low for a Bay Area NPS.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTheir language they were using and the way they were treating us was like, are we still talking about my kid, or are we negotiating buying a used car,\u201d Ansari said. \u201cIt really felt like it just comes down to the money.\u201d<\/p>\n After the district denied their request, the Ansaris faced a choice: keep their son in public school or pay for Springstone School themselves. They chose to enroll him at the school and hired an attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the next six months, the family gathered evidence showing their son was doing significantly better at Springstone. Ansari said the district ultimately approved the placement\u00a0through his IEP. A few years later, the family went through a nearly identical process with their daughter.<\/p>\n Jennifer Blake, head of special education at Oakland Unified District, said she could not comment specifically on Ansari\u2019s case but pushed back on the idea that families must fight the district for NPS placements. \u201cIf data show a student\u2019s needs cannot be met in a public school setting,\u201d she said, an IEP team should carefully consider an NPS placement.<\/p>\n Why California school districts contract with nonpublic schools<\/p>\n NPS placements can be very expensive for public school districts, and Blake said OUSD is projected to spend $12.1 million for the 2025-26 school year placements. Each student placed in an NPS costs a base sum of around $116,000 annually, Blake said, which doesn\u2019t include costs for such things as occupational or other therapies. That can bump full tuition to $200,000 to $250,000 a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n If a student gets a placement approved through OUSD, there\u2019s also the cost of transporting students to and from their schools, which the district is legally required to do under the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Blake said these can run between $20,000 and $50,000 a year for each NPS student.<\/p>\n If the district partnered with an NPS to have a school in Oakland, Blake said the district is hoping to negotiate some reduction in daily transportation rates for students in exchange for the reduced building price. Many students would also have shorter transportation routes, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would be able to successfully and safely get more students in a vehicle because they\u2019re now driving 15 or 20 minutes down the road instead of an hour and a half,\u201d Blake said.<\/p>\n Free and appropriate education<\/p>\n Funding for special education has long been a challenge. Under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act, passed in 1975<\/a>, the federal government pledged to cover about 40% of the cost of educating students with disabilities. Karma Quick-Panwala, director of children and family advocacy services with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund<\/a>, said that today the government only pays around 13% of the cost, leaving districts struggling to fully fund services.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut that is not an excuse under the law, unfortunately,\u201d Quick-Panwala said. \u201cSo we need to look at how creative can we be to resolve disputes at the local level.\u201d<\/p>\n Anjanette Pelletier, a special educator for 25 years and director of management consulting services at the School Services of California,<\/a> said parents across California often struggle to secure nonpublic school placements for their children.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n One challenge, she said, is a statewide shortage of placement options for students with more intensive support needs. \u201cSometimes the delay [in placement] is not that we disagree,\u201d Pelletier said. \u201cIt\u2019s that we can\u2019t find a spot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pelletier said another source of conflict is that parents are focused on what they believe is best for their children, while districts must follow strict legal requirements about what services and placements they can offer \u2014 and when they can offer them \u2014 even in cases when it\u2019s clear a child would benefit from an alternative placement.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, where the gap happens is when parents say, \u2018I\u2019ve been trying to get into a nonpublic school or this specific setting,\u2019 and the district says, \u2018We\u2019re obligated to try these other things first,\u2019 \u201d Pelletier said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very frustrating process for families, and often for the staff of classrooms, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of those legal obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act involves educating students in the least-restrictive environment<\/a>, which typically means a general education classroom whenever possible. According to Quick-Panwala, California data show that 60% of students with IEPs spend at least 80% of their school day in general education settings. Research has found that students with disabilities often perform better academically and socially when educated alongside nondisabled peers, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then vice versa, our nondisabled students are learning more about how to navigate many different diversities and intersections,\u201d Quick-Panwala said. \u201cWe want to see our public schools embrace educating students with disabilities in general education classrooms, and providing them with the support and services they need there.\u201d<\/p>\n Sara Mohn and her daughter, Ila Mohn, sitting together in the living room of their Oakland home.Credit: Caly Luna Plowman<\/p>\n IEP services: denials, delays and attorney involvement<\/p>\n Quick-Panwala previously helped Bay Area families secure NPS placements through her work at the Community Alliance for Special Education<\/a>. She said it\u2019s \u201cnot uncommon to see denials or delays in getting the appropriate support and services,\u201d adding that many Bay Area families seek legal help to obtain NPS placements. The high cost of tuition can contribute to district resistance, she said.<\/p>\n Sara Mohn is a parent who sought legal help to secure a NPS placement for her daughter\u00a0through OUSD. Mohn\u2019s daughter, Ila, now 18, has attended Star Academy<\/a> in San Rafael since middle school. The school specializes in supporting\u00a0students with learning disabilities such as severe dyslexia. Before that, Mohn and her husband paid about $25,000 a year to send Ila to a private elementary school without OUSD\u2019s support.\u00a0<\/p>\n Around fourth grade, the family reconsidered a public school and asked OUSD to reevaluate Ila for the first time since she was 5 years old. Mohn said the new assessment showed significantly lower scores than her earlier evaluation, which raised concerns for the family. They eventually paid $6,500 for an independent evaluation and requested an NPS placement through the district.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The process, Mohn said, was expensive, time-consuming and frustrating.<\/p>\n \u201cI was on the other side of the table than the district,\u201d Mohn said. \u201cMy kid wasn\u2019t at the center of the decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n Mohn said families\u2019 experiences often depend on the IEP team involved. She said she knows another Star Academy family whose placement process through OUSD was smooth because their team was thoughtful and supportive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Blake said she could not comment specifically on Mohn\u2019s case, but noted that the \u201cdata-driven recommendations\u201d made by IEP teams do not always align with what families want for their child. She added that the district offers an alternative dispute resolution<\/a> facilitator to work with\u00a0 families of students with IEPs.<\/p>\n According to Blake, the facilitator has helped resolve many disagreements without attorneys or formal legal action. This school year, the district received 38 requests for facilitation services. Of those, 19 were resolved without escalation, 12 remain in progress and only one advanced to a due process complaint, which typically results in<\/a> a \u201cresolution session\u201d between the parents and the district, and sometimes even a formal hearing.<\/p>\n An NPS in Oakland<\/p>\n Two years ago, the Ansari family moved across the Bay to the Novato Unified School District so Atrina could live closer to her nonpublic school. Now her commute is no more than 45 minutes, one way, and Ansari said the change has significantly reduced stress on the family, \u201cat least to not have a bridge between us.\u201d<\/p>\n Ansari said opening a nonpublic school in Oakland could not only shorten students\u2019 commutes but also help them build friendships and stronger community connections. Because many students travel from across Northern California to attend Bay Area NPS programs, she said, her children do not have close friendships with their classmates.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of times we don\u2019t even know the other families,\u201d Ansari said. \u201cIn public schools, the families end up being friends \u2014 they\u2019re all going to after-school activities and going on vacation together \u2026 So having a school in the community would hopefully support that being able to meet after school or have more family engagement.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n At Star Academy, Ila Mohn said she feels comfortable and safe. On a Friday afternoon in March, Ila and her mother sat in the living room of their Oakland home, each holding a fluffy cat as the sun set through the tall windows behind them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDo you, at your school, feel like you have a sense of belonging there?\u201d Mohn asked her daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my house \u2014 it\u2019s my home,\u201d Ila replied before correcting herself. \u201cNo, well, here\u2019s my home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s your home away from home,\u201d her mother said.\u00a0 Ila nodded, \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/p>\n New bill proposes reforming special education by empowering California families<\/a><\/p>\n March 26, 2026<\/p>\n Special education experts urge California schools to invest in early education amid rising costs<\/a><\/p>\n March 27, 2026<\/p>\n Special education has become a flash point in negotiations with teachers<\/a><\/p>\n February 24, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top Takeaways School districts in California pay for students with disabilities to attend \u201cnon-public schools,\u201d specialized private schools…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-342368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}