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Advocates, DOE spar over preschool special education and soaring due‑process costs
Summary
Parents and disability advocates told the council that preschool special education seats and mandated related services remain insufficient and asked for a major targeted funding increase.
Lede: Advocates and parents told the Council that preschool special education seats, evaluation capacity and related services remain inadequate and that rising due‑process costs are driven in part by unmet public school placements. They asked the Council to add targeted funding to resume evaluations, expand preschool special education seats and reduce private‑placement (Carter) spending.
Nut graff: At the hearing, Deputy Chancellor Christine Moti and General Counsel Liz Vladeck answered questions about conflicting enrollment counts and the department's efforts to both expand public autism programs and curb growth in costly due‑process tuition payments. Advocates asked the city to add $70 million to create more preschool special education seats and $38 million to hire related‑service providers and expand services.
Key facts from testimony: DOE said current preschool special education enrollment figures are subject to differing counts; Deputy Chancellor Christine Moti reported a figure of 28,202 preschoolers with IEPs in DOE's immediate count during the hearing, and cautioned that preschool special education is rolling entry rather than a single cohort. Chancellor Avils Ramos and Deputy Chancellor Foti said DOE will add seats thanks to a $55 million baseline investment but also emphasized that services are provided on a rolling basis and DOE is expanding related service contracts and weekend "academies" to close service gaps.
Due process and Carter cases: General Counsel Liz Vladeck told the Council that due process complaints had fallen about 30% from last school year after internal reforms and outreach to families. But she said tuition per Carter case remains high: an approximate private‑placement tuition cost for an intensive program can reach $150,000 a year or more, and DOE reported several hundred students receiving tuition payments in recent school years. Advocates urged the city to expand public specialized autism programs (NEST/HORIZON/AIMS) to reduce private placements.
Advocate requests: Parents and disability advocates pressed for specific investments: a $70 million expansion for preschool special education seats, $38 million to expand related‑service contractors for preschoolers, and expanded weekend and weekday compensatory sites for students awaiting services.
DOE response: DOE said it had added 1,700 new preschool special education seats this administration and baseline funding to create additional seats; it also is issuing enhanced related‑service contracts targeted at preschoolers and opening "sensory gyms," weekend academies, and related services sites. DOE acknowledged data discrepancies and promised follow‑up district‑by‑district breakdowns.
Why this matters: Preschool special education and related services are legally mandated. Gaps in evaluation and service delivery have cascading effects — families seeking services in private settings can trigger due‑process claims that drive up city spending and remove students from public‑school placements.
What to watch: Any adopted‑budget additions targeted to preschool related services, and the city's follow‑up disaggregated data on preschool IEP counts and the timeline for the enhanced related‑services RFP and weekend/weekday compensatory offerings.
