Parents, teachers and therapists warn of service cuts as Bellevue budget restores fall short

Members of the Bellevue School District community told the school board on May 1 that planned staffing reductions and budget-driven reassignments threaten special-education services, increase caseloads and leave families without timely communication about missed services.

Special-education teacher Claire Draw told the board Newport High School was told it would lose an inclusive-program designation this spring without explanation beyond budget concerns, a change she said will raise caseloads by “a minimum of nine students” and reduce special-education staffing by about 1.4 full-time equivalents. She said Newport has operated as a neighborhood school with inclusive supports for six years and asked the district to allow the school to continue that model.

The concerns were echoed by occupational therapist Megha Mahale, who said high caseloads have reduced therapists’ ability to collaborate with classroom teams and to generalize therapy skills into students’ daily school…