Chair Lee on K-12 special education program demand and outcomes

What an intro.

Go.

First, it was bugging me, D.C.

Hawkins.

I have to make a correction.

Math is not your friend.

Math is everyone's friend.

Okay.

Oh, I said it's my friend.

It's actually my bestie.

It's your bestie.

Well, thank you, Chair.

I appreciate that.

I appreciate that.

Sorry, just wanted to clarify one thing.

The 2,000 new 3K seats, I'm sorry.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah.

So it's a bit of a combination, but I think primarily $35 million is intended to support with the development of the new 3K seats.

Okay, thank you.

Now I can go.

I go.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Chair Lee.

K-12 special education.

As I mentioned in my opener, we're interested in discussing what the investments actually are, because it seems to be focused only on early childhood, or most on early childhood.

The executive plan includes additional funding for pre-K special education and IESP support at non-public schools.

This plan does not include an expansion of AIMS, NEST, Horizon, or other effective programs for students with disabilities in grades K-12.

DC Foti, you've...

And Chancellor, you've both spoken about these programs.

What metrics do you use to track the success of these programs that you could say they're wildly successful?

Thank you for the question.

And, you know, we are deeply committed to creating high-quality programs for families close to home.

All of the programs you mentioned, one is that when we do open these programs, they are immensely popular and families really try to make use of them.

Can I pause you?

Because I just want to ask, like,

What does popular look like?

If you could say how many applications for these seats exist.

It means that, one, I think the last time I looked, 80% of families accepted the offer.

to these programs.

And then also, when you think of metrics, you know, we look at graduates and where we see significant levels, in fact, sometimes outperforming our students who

are in general education.

So I'm going to turn it over to Christina to talk more about this.

But to be clear, this is a huge part of our strategy as we move forward in

in not only resolving our due process cases or getting them done, but investing in high-quality programs close to home.

So, Christina?

Thank you, Chancellor.

I think a couple of other data points are in terms of attendance, we're seeing our students in our specialized programs coming to school more often than their peers.

And in our AIMS program, it's 88%, which is at least seven points above their peers.

When you say their peers, you mean students with autism in a general community school?

Students with significant autism in District 75 or community school.

Nest and Horizon, 92%.

Again, that I think is about six percentage points higher than their peers in ICT or special classes.

Nest are 50% more likely to be proficient, and Horizon are two times more likely to be proficient in math and ENLA.

We also do parent satisfaction surveys where 9 and 10 parents say that they would recommend.

their other families to their specialized programs.

I think you also asked about seats, Chair, and just to the beginning of your question, you know, are we expanding K-12?

Yes, we are, and we are going to be

expanding our autism programs by more than 675 seats in FY27.

That is an increase.

We're going to be grading up our existing programs, which is exciting.

I do want to say, yes, we've been focusing on the $67.5 million in terms of the early childhood investment.

But we're six months into this administration, and we're seeing $67.5 million coming our way.

We're seeing an additional 675 seats.

And then the IESP investment is significant and another example of this administration's commitment in the past six months.

That investment, if we are able to continue to hire those providers, right, we're all sharing the same resources.

And so an investment in IESP work is an investment in the overall infrastructure of special education.

It is hugely appreciative.

I also just shared the last thing.

I want to thank you for so deeply diving into this work.

You know, this is the first time we've been asked to provide our counsel on a briefing on due process.

It is a difficult topic, but you all have spent so much time digging in, and thank you for that.

And also the briefing requested on...

specialized programs.

The fact that you all are able, I mean, your testimony, you did my job for me today, Chair, so thank you.

And I really, all of us in the community recognize how much this matters, so thank you.