Chair Lee on specialized program seat shortages and unmet demand

Thank you.

And as I said, I think we all agree this is a moral imperative, but also a fiscal one.

So I'm going to get to the IESP, and I want to thank you for that briefing.

It was very informative.

As I said, you should be a teacher.

I mean, you're also a good lawyer, so you should do both.

The 675 seats that you cited, are those in District 75 schools, or are those part of Horizon, Nest, Ames programs?

That's right.

Part of Horizon, Nest, and Ames programs were grading up.

So the kids that are currently in the programs, we, of course, want them to continue next year.

So this is not so much a...

I mean, you would define that as an expansion or you would define that as just keeping pace with the current class?

For K-12, the last thing we want to do is pull options from kids.

And so it is expansion of existing program seats.

Not a new program, but we're making sure that the program continues.

So maybe expansion's not the word.

Sustaining.

Sustaining, okay.

And how many students were not offered a seat or rejected, whatever word you want to use, because there weren't enough seats?

I mean, those numbers are staggering, right?

So we have, I have to say, for our AIMS program, which we were on to something, we thought the AIMS program was exactly what our kids need.

510 seats, 510 kids in those seats, 2,070 applicants.

2,070?

Yeah.

For Horizon, we had a, currently we have an enrollment of 2,203 kids with a kindergarten,

with 1,410 applications to Nest and Horizon for kindergarten.

In Nest and Horizon, those 1,410 applications were for 560 seats.

Do you wildly popular, do you think?

It's wildly popular, yeah.

High demand, do you think that that's an appropriate description?

So we have here, and I want to highlight something you said, Chancellor, that this is part of, this is what you just testified, that these seats are part of resolving due process cases.

That it making the investment in our public system helps resolve the due process claims where families feel the need to seek out private school education.

And I also just want to add that we see reduction in

the travel time that kids spend

So this also solves the parts of the bus issue in some cases.

So what I'm trying to understand is why there isn't greater investment in something that is a moral obligation and a fiscal obligation.

Where is the investment in this?

And to ask a specific question, what would it cost to provide a seat to every student who applied and was deemed eligible?

Yeah, I think that's something I'd have to go back to, but I'm not sure if you have.

Yes, we can definitely, we have the per pupil cost and we can definitely send those over to you.

In terms of

The overall budget, I think, Chair, you know this is something that we continue to talk about, right?

We talked about a lot of priorities today, a lot of things that people want, a lot of things that kids need.

One in four kids have a disability.

We are seeing those numbers rise significantly and the needs of our students coming into the system rising significantly.

That is true nationally, but we're very much, this is a local issue, of course.

So the demand is going to continue to grow, but I would argue that every time we have an investment, we have shown enormous return on investment in terms of the outcomes you just have heard about.

We also talked last hearing about the due process infrastructure and a lot of private benefit from public funds, and that is why we are glad to have the best lawyer in the city here helping us come up with a plan.

With strategy.

So you agree with me.

I agree with you on most things, Chair.

I especially agree with Chair Lee on maybe, okay, I'll stop now.

But most people do.

The point is, though, we've had right since 2000, over a decade of $8.5 billion going to due process.

And that is not just the cost of what it takes to educate the child alone.

That is the entire economic infrastructure that is built around due process.

Every dollar that goes to entities that are not the child themselves is a dollar that could have been invested in our public school systems to make our kids whole here.

Agreed.

So we agree that these programs are popular, and in part because they're successful, you've demonstrated that.

With data, you agree that they are part of solving the due process crisis.