NYC Comptroller Report Finds DOE Fails to Deliver Mandated Special Education Services to Thousands of Children Even As Claims Spending Surged Tenfold

New York, NY — New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released a new report revealing a tenfold spending increase on special education service claims over the last decade. Yet despite this increase, the Department of Education (DOE) failed to deliver mandated special education services to thousands of students. The cost of these claims, which are filed by families seeking essential services for their children with disabilities, escalated from $33 million to $372 million between FY 2012 and FY 2022.

The report identifies flaws and inequities within DOE’s system for delivering special education services (e.g. speech therapy, occupational therapy, classroom support) and offers recommendations for reform to ensure that all children receive the support they need, in a manner that works better for families and is more most cost-effective for the City as well.

“We know that students with disabilities can thrive, but only when they get services they need—and are legally entitled to. Unfortunately, the Department of Education’s system for providing those services is failing to deliver urgently needed services to thousands of kids, especially low-income students of color, even as the cost of claims has grown tenfold. We can and must do better,” said Comptroller Brad Lander.

During the 2021-22 school year, DOE did not fulfill 13,800 recommendations for support services such as speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, or counseling for K-12 students. Recommendations for services in predominantly Black, Hispanic and low-income school districts were less likely to be fully provided by DOE. Additionally, nearly 10,000 preschool students with disabilities missed out on their required services entirely. New York City has estimated 283,000 students with disabilities.

Over the past decade, an increasing number of families resorted to filing claims against DOE to pay for these vital special education services for their children. While tuition reimbursement comprised the majority of due process claim payments in the past, claims for services other than tuition grew much more rapidly and represented 58% of FY 2023 due process claim payments to date.

Securing special education services for children with disabilities through claims when DOE fails to provide them places the significant burden of navigating a complex and time-consuming legal process and finding services on families.

The Comptroller’s report proposes a series of reforms that would shift public funding towards providing more services directly by DOE, in order to create a more equitable system that ensures all children receive the support they need without the need for families to resort to legal action, ultimately at less cost to the City.

The recommendations include using a “pay for success” model that would invest 25% of annual spending on claims to create a larger network of directly-provided, multilingual special education services, ramping up recruitment and retention, offering competitive contract rates, restructuring DOE’s system of evaluation and referrals, and establishing service provider standards to increase accountability and reduce fraud.

By providing high-quality special education services directly in public schools and for students attending charter schools, community-based preschools and non-public schools, the City can eliminate disparities, minimize the need for legal action, reduce fraud, save taxpayer dollars, and—most importantly—meet its obligation to provide students with disabilities with the services they need to thrive.

“It is unfathomable that in 2023, the Department of Education fails to provide mandated special education services to New York City students. This report highlights what families, students and education advocates have been fighting for year after year. The educational journey within the New York City school system lacks inclusivity and accessibility for our most vulnerable New Yorkers,” said Council Member Rita Joseph, Chair, Committee on Education.

“This report confirms the need for the City to immediately prioritize meeting the educational needs of nearly 300,000 students with disabilities in NYC and their families. The administration must dedicate more funding and human resources to reduce the racial and socioeconomic disparities in delivering required special education services,” said Cheryelle Cruickshank, Executive Director, INCLUDEnyc.

“I have had to fight hard to ensure my children received the services that were required in their IEPs, even as someone who had a great deal of knowledge of the DOE’s complex and opaque special education system. Parents should not have to fight for what their children are guaranteed under the law. The Comptroller’s report is a welcome step toward improving the special education system. I sincerely hope the DOE will adopt the recommendations contained in the report. Our children deserve better,” said NeQuan C. McLean, CEC16 President.

“Special Education advocates such as myself are grateful to Comptroller Brad Lander for identifying the systemic issues that prevent a comprehensive experience for our students with disabilities. We agree in order to retain and recruit the best related service providers, we must start by paying them a livable wage and paying them on time. We applaud the request to restructure how the DOE evaluates and provisions special education services by re-establishing a Deputy Chancellor on Special Education along with the call for a functional voucher system in place to fill RSAs. Our families have been disregarded by this system for too long. We urge Chancellor Banks to adopt these recommendations and prioritize the needs of our students with disabilities immediately,” said Paullette Healy, elected member on Citywide Council for D75

“Within the largest urban educational system, the Department of Education has severally neglected to service proper accessible, inclusive, equitable, and mandated special education programs and services with accommodations for students with disabilities.  Thousands of students with disabilities in marginalized communities of color and social-economic households are affected the most and are most likely to be affected through their preschool and K-12 academic journey. In the past decade, families filing for legal suit against the DOE have been exponentially climbed and the DOE has failed to improve its special education services mandated by federal and state laws protecting the rights of students with disabilities. I as a parent of multiple children with disabilities wish to see these recommendations be taken seriously and hold the DOE accountable to each area of special education. Our children with disabilities deserve better, dignity and respect,” said Amy Tsai, Vice President of NYC Coalition for Educating Families Together, advocate, and parent.

Read the full report here.

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