Sycamore board hears special-education briefing as officials flag disproportionality and rising costs

Stacy Spencer, the district’s executive director of student services, told the Sycamore School Board at its September meeting that the district served 594 students with disabilities in the 23–24 school year and that overall identification represents about 10% of enrollment compared with the state average of 16.8 percent. Spencer said federal law — "the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA" — requires annual IEPs and timely evaluations and that some indicators used in state performance profiles use lagging data.

The presentation outlined district staffing and services: 73 special-education teachers, roughly 30.6 related-services FTE (speech, OT, PT and similar) and about 111 educational assistants who support students across preschool to transition programming. Spencer described a continuum of supports — in-class inclusion, co-teaching, pull-out resource rooms and specialized classrooms — and said 78 percent of preschool-age students with…