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Special education leaders report rising inclusion and transition supports; spending gap remains
Summary
Special Education Director Jana Rush and Assistant Director Ali Shepherd told the board the district is expanding co‑teaching and transition planning, recording encouraging post‑graduation engagement but still facing an approximate $8 million funding gap between program costs and state/federal reimbursements.
Special Education Director Jana Rush presented the district's annual special education update at Tuesday’s board meeting, saying Peninsula serves just over 1,300 students with 191 special education staff and is continuing work to expand inclusion and transition services.
“We provide that full continuum of services and our services are defined by the law and the IEPs that are written for students,” Rush said.
Rush described progress on inclusion metrics: the district’s percentage of students spending 80% or more of the school day in general education (LRE 1) was reported at roughly 68% for the most recent snapshot — above the state average but short of the district’s 80% goal. She credited expansion of a co‑teaching model at the secondary level — rising from six co‑teach sections at her first year to 41 sections this year — as a key driver of increased access to general education.
Assistant Director Ali Shepherd described implementation of SchoolLinks for “high school and beyond” planning and the district’s work to align high‑school course names and codes across sites so students receive consistent pathways and supports. Rush and Shepherd also highlighted increased follow‑up data collection on graduates: the district achieved an 80% return rate on the post‑graduation “Leaver Survey,” and the results showed increases in higher education enrollment and competitive employment compared with prior years.
Rush reviewed funding sources and said special education is supported by a mix of state special education funds, federal IDEA dollars, and district basic education funding. She said there is a roughly $8 million gap between program costs and what state and federal funding reimburse, and the district has applied for state “safety net” reimbursement; the district expects about $2 million of the gap may be offset pending application results.
On staffing and practice, Rush said the district has systematized preschool‑to‑elementary and middle‑to‑high school transitional meetings, streamlined restraint and isolation reporting into PowerSchool for accurate state reporting, and retooled right‑response (behavioral) certification to reduce overtraining while maintaining compliance.
Board members and staff asked about federal IDEA funding; Rush said she did not expect a major federal cut to IDEA but noted details of federal allocations and formula changes were not yet fully clear. She also said the district has increased paraeducator onboarding and on‑the‑job training and that buildings provide most of the role‑specific training paraeducators receive.
Ending: Rush and Shepherd said next steps include piloting or adopting intervention materials for math and writing that align with general‑education adoptions, continued professional development for transition planning and right‑response training, and ongoing work to close the funding gap through reimbursements and grants.
