We thank the New York City Council’s Committee on Education for holding this necessary oversight hearing on the provision of special education services. INCLUDEnyc is the leading source of training and information for young people ages 0-26 with known or suspected disabilities, their parents, and the professionals who support them. For over 40 years, we have helped New York City families navigate the complex special education and support systems.
While we commend the City for its continued efforts to create a more inclusive system through initiatives like “Boldly Reimagining Special Education,” launching the new Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning (DIAL), and its inclusion of District 75 within it, the reality is that many of the near 300,000 students with disabilities, ages 3-21, continue to be underserved. We urge the City to address these critical gaps and ensure that it delivers special education instruction and related services to all students entitled to them as per their Individual Education Programs (IEPs).
In 2024, INCLUDEnyc received over 3,000 requests on our Help Line, and over 75% were related to education. Families and professionals came to us due to their need to better understand the special education process and the rights a child and family have under the federal special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This year, just like last year and years prior, the areas in which people seek information from us the most are the following: referrals, quality evaluations, preparing for IEP meetings, transitioning into kindergarten, middle school, and high school, lack of bilingual evaluators and providers, busing, placement, child not receiving related services, transition services, and lack of timely and linguistically accessible communication to families.
According to Local Law 27 data on preschoolers, 14,000 preschoolers (3-5-year-olds) with disabilities did not receive all their mandated services in the school year 2023-24. This school year, 450 young children under five were excluded altogether by being forced to stay home due to the City’s persistent shortage of preschool special education seats, denying crucial services to thousands of disabled preschool children.
Last school year, 61% of general education students in grades 3-8 tested proficient in Math. In contrast, less than 3 of every 10 students receiving special education services were proficient in math, and there was a wider percentage gap in English Language Arts (ELA) scores between the two groups of students. Sadly, the achievement gap does not stop there. In 2023, less than half of all students with IEPs graduated in four years, compared to 81% of students without disabilities.
As a result of these longstanding chronic issues and unacceptable learning outcomes, we recommend that the Department of Education and the City:
- Ensure all preschool children receive all IEP services
- Recruit additional multilingual and culturally diverse special education professionals to address gaps across instructional and therapeutic settings
- Secure timely evaluations for all students with suspected or known disabilities
- Change current policies around issuing families Related Service Authorizations (RSAs) as mandated per a child’s 10- or 12-month IEP to reduce the amount of missed services due to not receiving them
- Automatically notify families of missed services within 24 hours that they were scheduled to be delivered
- Provide services on Saturdays in regional locations and direct assistance to families with identifying alternative related service providers, timely evaluations, and, if needed, the provision of private re-evaluation
- Address evergreen transportation issues such as:
- Rebidding bus contracts, improving service
- Expanding bus service so students with disabilities can also attend after-school and weekend programs
- Mandate one campus per bus route
- Split up students according to their chronological ages, so elementary-age students can no longer be assigned to busses with students up to the ages of 22
- Create an accountability mechanism that measures timely and language-accessible communication with families.
- Enhance the family-facing bus tracking app for families
- Better streamlined accommodation request processes
- Increase parent involvement by disseminating clear information on their rights and programs through multiple channels and through using clear, translated language in communications
Thank you for taking the time to consider these important matters. We look forward to partnering with you to improve equity and access for all students with disabilities in New York City.
Respectfully submitted,
Chantall Lowe
Senior Director of Partner & Community Engagement
INCLUDEnyc