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Special-education director warns federal funds lag rising needs; mandatory set-aside ordered over discipline disparities
Summary
Norfolk's special-education director told the school board that students with disabilities have risen 22.5% since 2021-22 (to 4,899), with autism and developmental delay growing fastest, while federal IDEA funding has not kept pace; the division is on a mandatory 15% set-aside because of disproportionate suspensions of Black students.
Norfolk Public Schools presented its federal fiscal-year special-education plan to the board on April 1, flagging rapidly growing student needs and funding constraints.
"As of the 2025 December 1 child count, NPS serves 4,899 students with disabilities," said Dr. Walter, the presenter for the annual IDEA Part B flow-through application. He said that represented a 22.5% increase since 2021-22 and noted a 62.5% rise in identified autism and a 68.5% rise in developmental delay.
At the same time, federal funding increases have been modest. Dr. Walter said Section 611 funding totaled about $6.59 million in the breakdown shown and that the application budget, including required set-asides and indirect costs, brought the district's Section 611 total to just over $8 million for the application year he reviewed.
The district was notified it is again subject to a mandatory 15% set-aside because of disproportionate suspension of Black students. Dr. Walter cited discipline data showing 10,859 out-of-school suspension incidents year to date, of which 7,948 (77.5%) involved Black students even though they make up about 55% of enrollment, creating a roughly 22.6-point disparity.
Because the set-aside restricts how some federal funds may be used, the special-education office proposed changing its C's (comprehensive coordinated early intervening services) model: shifting from 12 direct-service student interventionist positions to a six-person coaching model focused on building classroom and school staff capacity. Dr. Walter said the division will reallocate some positions to operating budgets where possible because federal dollars cannot reliably sustain all prior staffing levels.
Board members pressed for clarity on staffing, resource allocations, and how the shift to coaching will scale impact divisionwide discipline practices. Dr. Walter said coaching is intended to expand reach by equipping teachers and administrators with strategies and that the selection for coaching roles will emphasize required qualifications rather than automatic transfers of existing intervention staff.
The special-education application will be taken to the board for approval on April 15 and submitted to the Virginia Department of Education by its May deadline.
