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Special-education department presents enrollment growth, staffing pressures and program expansions
Summary
District special-education leaders told the board the program now serves more than 8,100 students, described pressure on speech-language services (about 89 SLPs serving ~4,835 students plus contract providers), and outlined efforts to expand in-district autism and behavioral programs to reduce costly nonpublic placements.
San Bernardino City Unified School District's special-education leadership told the board on Wednesday that the district's special-education population has grown and that staffing and funding are creating operational pressures.
"We have 8,186 students that already are are already eligible and are receiving services," Dr. Rubio said during an extended presentation that walked the board through statewide and local figures and multi-year trends. He said the district has seen enrollment increases even while overall district enrollment declined.
The briefing provided program-level details: district staff and program specialists support resource specialist program (RSP) classrooms, mild-to-moderate and extensive-support settings, preschool inclusion sites, and rotating school psychologists for private and charter placements. On related services, Dr. Rubio noted the speech and language caseload: "We have 89 [speech-language pathologists] and we do have 13 under contract providing some in person and some virtual, but we have 4,835 students that are receiving that," he said, describing a hard cap and active case-load management.
Board members pressed on budget and staffing implications. "A lot of the funding doesn't come from the federal government for these services," board member Mr. Tilman said, warning that special-education costs can "balloon" and encroach on the general fund. Dr. Rubio and staff said they are pursuing targeted contracts, coordination with program specialists, and outreach to nonpublic-school providers with the goal of returning students to district-run programs when possible.
The presentation also outlined alternative-dispute-resolution (ADR) work: Dr. Rubio said the district has used ADR to resolve 14 parent concerns so far this year without them advancing to formal state complaints, and that due-process hearings (OAH) have declined. He described new autism-classroom sites and behavior-support classrooms the district is staffing to reduce reliance on costly placements outside the district.
Board members asked for follow-up data. President and staff recorded a request for the breakdown of parent-initiated evaluations versus site referrals, the number that moved to eligibility, and further detail on nonpublic-school contracts and the district’s plan to bring students back into district programs.
