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Resident urges rethinking special-education spending, says it accounts for 34% of instructional budget
Summary
At the July 15 meeting, York resident Chuck Ott testified that special education accounts for 34% of the district's instructional budget and urged more family–school collaboration and less reliance on a medical-diagnostic model.
Chuck Ott, a York resident who said he previously worked as a school psychologist and superintendent, used the public-comment period July 15 to challenge the district's approach to special education and to cite a claimed budget share. "I was shocked to see that the special education accounts for 34% of the entire instructional budget," Ott told the committee, adding that the system "adopted a medical model" and has relied heavily on testing and diagnoses.
Ott contrasted testing-driven approaches with what he described as the most important element: family–school relationships. He urged staff and committee members to "go to the family's kitchen table," abandon what he called a "cure fantasy," and work collaboratively to improve student outcomes. "There is a place for expertise, but only in the context of a collaborative family school relationship," he said.
Committee members acknowledged Ott's remarks with thanks but did not provide a substantive reply or cite district budget figures during the public-comment exchange. The claim that special education makes up 34% of the instructional budget was presented without a specific citation in the record and remains unverified in the meeting transcript.
The committee moved on to new business after public comment; no immediate action on the subject was taken at the July 15 meeting.
