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Superintendent says MMSD faces $65 million special-education funding gap, warns of federal oversight shifts
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Gothard told the board MMSD must fill a $65,000,000 special-education funding gap from general funds and raised concern about proposed federal transfers that could shift education oversight away from education-focused agencies.
Superintendent Dr. Gothard told the board that the district faces a substantial shortfall in special-education funding and outlined related federal policy concerns. "At MMSD, we're left with a $65,000,000 funding gap," Dr. Gothard said, explaining that decades of underfunding by the federal government require the district to shift general funds to meet federally and state-mandated special-education services.
Dr. Gothard described recent changes and proposed federal shifts in civil-rights enforcement and special-education oversight, including references to transferring the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to Health and Human Services and moving the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice. He said those changes could reduce the effectiveness of education-focused oversight. The superintendent also highlighted district summer programming and partnerships and said staff will provide more detail at the Instruction Work Group meeting next week.
The comments were presented as the superintendent's report and did not trigger board direction to change district budget allocations during the meeting; the report framed the funding gap as a structural challenge for future budget and policy work.
