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Parkrose board hears special-education report showing 62 restraints last year; district urges more state funding
Summary
District staff told the Parkrose School Board that staff recorded 62 student restraints last year and trained roughly 70 staff in CPI; the superintendent urged legislators to raise special-education funding (cap to 15%) and increase high-cost reimbursement to reduce a multimillion-dollar local burden.
Andres Estrada, presenting the district’s special-education overview, told the Parkrose School Board on Sept. 23 that the district recorded 62 restraints last school year and 1 seclusion. “So we had 62 restraints, and we had 58 males, 4 females, 0 non binary,” Estrada said, listing grade-level and demographic breakdowns: 59 elementary, 3 middle and 0 high school incidents. He said the district uses CPI (nonviolent crisis intervention) for prevention and response and that “we have roughly trained 70 staff currently trained.”
Board members pressed staff on whether the tally represented multiple incidents by the same students; Estrada acknowledged outliers and said some incidents involve repeat students and that the district follows required family notification and debrief procedures after every incident. “Part of our process when there is a restraining is that we have to notify families immediately. We call the family and then we also send them a letter,” he said, describing follow-up debriefs and individualized prevention plans.
The special-education briefing fed into a broader superintendent-requested legislative agenda. Superintendent (Speaker 10) told the board the district seeks two state-level changes to reduce local costs: raise the state special-education funding cap to about 15 percent (closer to the district’s share of students on IEPs) and increase reimbursement for high-cost disability placements. “If we receive full funding for students in special education services, it would result in a $5,200,000 increase this biennium,” the superintendent said. On high-cost disability reimbursement, staff and the superintendent noted the state currently reimburses roughly 43¢ on the dollar; full reimbursement would add an estimated $5,400,000 in the next biennium, the presentation said.
Board members and staff framed the requests as responses to both increased student needs and new reporting requirements. Several trustees linked the uptick in restraints to students who missed early childhood services and pandemic-era disruptions, and they urged clearer state funding for unfunded mandates. “We’re much more strict about making sure that we’re accounting for every time that somebody puts their hands on a child,” one board member said during discussion.
What happens next: the board asked staff to refine talking points and financial examples to use when meeting with legislators and OSBA ahead of the 2025 legislative session. No formal policy change was adopted at this meeting; the special-education data and the funding recommendations were presented for board review and advocacy planning.
